As a general practitioner, the most important subject for using a PDA software would be about patient. I could say that only drug dosage, indication and some serious warning would be enough. I've ever used Physician Drug Handbook (PDH) before and found that it was very impressive. It's so exciting that every information on a pocket book is in my palm. By the way, after using it for a while, I think the information was too excessive and expensive for the patient care process especially when I tried ePocrates.

It's Free
Yes, everyone likes free stuff, evenif he has to give his own information.

Fast
During the ward round, no one would like to pick his PDA, tap a program and wait for even 1 minutes to find the dosage for gentamicin. In addition, no one would believe pharmacokinetics data from only PDA source. I prefer using "tap-to-data" time for the usability of PDA software. ePocrates did a great job on this while PDH paid a little more concentration on wrong target.

Small
When the same patient was considered, ePocrates uses only 1 MB of Ram comparing with PDH's 2 MB to give me the same information on drug dosage. Never the less, some information was missed. For example, there was no information on quinine infusion, OTC drugs. In addition, there was no information on local drug. By the way, user-editable "Note" section for each drug could be the solution.

Easy
ePocrates seems to be tested by a lot of physician before its launch because it's easy to use and understand.

Reliable & Up-to-date
Every released and withdrawn drug data could be periodically updated during Autosync. But it would be a very time-consuming process if it was done on a daily basis.



Recommended: Yes