October 2009 — Busy, Busy, Busy!

With our 10 year anniversary coming soon, we've been thinking a lot about milestones lately. Over the past decade, Epocrates has continually brought healthcare professionals innovative mobile and web-based products that help reduce medical errors, improve patient care and increase productivity. 

We've been particularly busy lately developing new content and feature enhancements important to your practice and are excited to share them with you! Epocrates® Essentials for BlackBerry®, Mobile Resource Centers for the iPhone®, and OTCs for
Epocrates® Online Premium are now available. Read on to learn how
you can benefit from these advances!

In this issue:

Who Needs a Flu Shot?

Preparing for a Busy 2009-2010 Flu Season  

Epocrates physician look-up density for oseltamivir

Most patients with 2009 influenza A H1N1 (swine flu) seem to have mild illness and recover without medical care or antiviral treatment.  Nonetheless, death tolls continue to rise.  CDC’s MMWR (9/29/09) reported post-mortem results from 77 fatal cases of confirmed 2009 H1N1 flu.  Evidence of concurrent bacterial infection was found in 29%, including Streptococcus pneumoniae in 10 patients.

These findings underscore the importance of pneumococcal vaccination for those at increased risk for pneumococcal pneumonia and the need for early recognition of bacterial superinfection in flu patients.

View our quick reference comparison table for a refresher on who needs vaccination for 2009 H1N1, seasonal influenza A, and pneumococcus, with notes on administering multiple vaccinations.  You can also view our vaccine updates.We know you are busy this season; our drug, vaccine, and disease information offers you rapid answers when you need them most.

FDA MedWatch Safety Alerts

Potential Medication Errors with Oseltamivir (Tamiflu) Oral Suspension
Safety Concerns With Oral Colchicine for Gout and Familial Mediterranean Fever
FDA Clears an Ovarian Cancer Test to Guide Surgical Decisions for Pelvic Masses

Epocrates Essentials for the BlackBerry
Epocrates is thrilled to announce that Epocrates Essentials is now available for BlackBerry! It comes packed with rich drug, disease, and lab information. What can it do for you?

Mobile Resource Centers for the iPhone
Mobile Resource Centers can help you stay current with less effort, by bringing you the latest clinical news and research in medical conditions or specialties. Clinical articles are hand-picked and commented upon by field experts.

You can find the resource centers in the "More..." section within your Epocrates app. Don't see them? Update your device. If you are new to Epocrates products for iPhone OS, download one today and the resource centers will be automatically included.

Epocrates Online Premium – Now with OTCs
Epocrates Online Premium is our most comprehensive clinical reference for your laptop or desktop computer. Now that it has the latest information on hundreds of brand name over-the-counter drugs, you can quickly find effective OTC treatments for your patients.

Plus, keep your patients safer with our robust drug interaction checker – check for interactions between prescription drugs, alternative medicines, and OTC drug products.

With content that is continually updated, the integrated drug and disease information in Epocrates Online Premium will help you make quick, confident decisions at the point of care.

Updates at a Glance

New Disease and Condition Topics Available* Muscle cramps Malignant hyperthermia Jet lag and sleep phase disorders Evaluation of neutrophilia Tonsillitis Evaluation of memory deficit Pilonidal disease Adenocarcinoma of Unknown Primary Labyrinthitis Allergic bronchopulmonary aspergillosis Graft-versus-host disease Kwashiorkor Dystonias Psoriatic arthritis *This disease information can be found in Epocrates Online, Epocrates Online Premium or Epocrates Essentials for the iPhone.	New Drugs Colcrys(colchicine) Caldolor(ibuprofen) Embeda(morphine sulfate/naltrexone) Influenza A H1N1 2009 Nasal Vaccine(influenza A H1N1 2009 (swine flu) nasal vaccine, live) Influenza A H1N1 2009 Vaccine (CSL)(influenza A H1N1 2009 (swine flu) vaccine) Influenza A H1N1 2009 Vaccine (Novartis)(influenza A H1N1 2009 (swine flu) vaccine) Influenza A H1N1 2009 Vaccine (sanofi pasteur)(influenza A H1N1 2009 (swine flu) vaccine) Invega Sustenna(paliperidone palmitate) Onglyza(saxagliptin) Onsolis(fentanyl transmucosal film) Valturna(aliskiren/valsartan)	New Formularies Health Partners of Phila. (PA) Rite Aid Rx Savings Card (National) San Juan Regional Medical Ctr (NM) UT Non-Traditional Medicaid (UT) UT Medicaid PCN (UT) WEA Trust Value Choice Drug (WI) How to Get these Updates Mobile: Update (sync) your device regularly to download free updates, including new drug monographs and MobileCME activities. If you don't have MobileCME, download it here. Add new formularies to your profile in My Account.   Online: Log in to Epocrates Online for continually updated drug information and disease content. Select new formularies in the DRUGS tab.

We're feeling the love! Last month, we asked you to write in to tell us why you love Epocrates in 10 words or less. We heard from many of you and the responses ranged from the heartwarming to the hilarious. Here are a couple of our favorites:

"Security, accuracy, and reliability; Epocrates is peace of mind."
--Stephanie P.Eads, APRN-BC

"My devotion and adoration for Epocrates supersedes banana-split sundaes!!!"
--Nayan R. Shaw, MD, Family Medicine

Thank you for your support!

We always love to hear from our members about Epocrates products, or any other topics at youropinion@epocrates.com.

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