Windows Phone Thoughts: Examining Epocrates Essentials

Just when you thought that was a load of subsections to discuss, there are more. The aforementioned pertained to branded and generic drugs, yet the database of alternative medicines have subsections of their own: Reported Uses, Reported Doses, Cautions, Drug Interactions, Adverse Reactions, Synonyms, Other Information, and Notes. The majority of these subsections detail information in a similar manner to the previously mentioned subsections of branded and generic drugs, yet the "Synonyms" subsection is a new one. It provides synonymous terms of the alternative medicines and is a great little thing to have.


Figure 7: Pop-ups! How nifty!


Figure 8: MultiCheck provides a quick and easy way to check drug-drug and IV interactions.

Now what about MultiCheck? I mentioned earlier that it was a feature used by the "Drug Interactions" subsections. Fortunately, it also happily exists as a usable interface which proves to be a valuable part of the program indeed. The MultiCheck feature lists the drugs in alphabetical order once again, and the "Look Up" feature is provided to simplify the searching process. You are able to select between two to thirty drugs and/or alternative medicines to assess any drug-drug or IV interactions. Once you have selected the drugs and chosen which form of interaction you wish to assess, you are taken to another screen which lists the possible interactions where appropriate. In Figure 8, you will see there is one possible interaction between glipizide and glucosamine sulfate. Tapping on the green link brings forth the nifty pop-up feature once again and it provides details pertaining to the interaction and what should be done in such an event. It is also worth noting that MultiCheck functions without a hitch; results can be extracted in a manner of seconds! The attention to detail in Epocrates Rx Pro is excellent, and overall, I really enjoyed what it had to offer. I would have loved to see greater support for branded drugs outside of the USA though. I was searching for a few Australian branded drugs, but due to the lack of these available in the program, I had to resort to reading the material on the generic drug instead.