There's a rich and growing field of software solutions for medical professionals available for Windows Mobile. They range from reference texts to programs that can track patient records to software that can improve the practice of medicine. The number of resources is growing rapidly; we can't cover everything that's available, but I will highlight the programs that have impressed me. Also, see the sidebar in this article for yet more Web sites and software to check out in the Windows Mobile healthcare arena.
Medical References
Skyscape: Familiar medical textbooks available in the point-of-care library for all healthcare professionals (http://www.skyscape.com)
Skyscape is a leading provider of interactive, intelligent mobile healthcare solutions. Having a wealth of information on my Pocket PC (and Smartphone) at the point of care improves the quality and efficiency of patient management and helps reduce medical errors. Skyscape provides more than 300 of medicine's most trusted and proven medical references in 35 medical specialties, from more than 30 major medical publishers.
Skyscape's Constellation incorporates pertinent individual titles customized for individual specialties (including Pediatrics, Anesthesia, Cardiology, Alternative Medicine, and others). They contain critical information on drugs, diseases, interactions, lab information, treatment options, and guidelines for each specialty. Skyscape's patented ART (Advanced Reference and Transaction) technology creates solutions that reflect and support the intuitive thought processes of the medical practitioner, and are very easy to use at the point of care. Skyscape aggregates information from a variety of sources, integrates this information, and presents it "in-context" on the Pocket PC, significantly improving the quality and efficiency of medical decision-making.
Skyscape Constellation offers an integrated source for decision support.
A physician can literally keep his entire knowledge base (thousands of pages of medical texts) in his pocket! The truly incredible aspect about these software titles is that no matter how many Skyscape titles you install onto your device, they all act as one cross-referenced text, making the information even more useful and practical.
As an Ob-Gyn, I am very concerned when giving any medications to women of child-bearing age, fearing that with a known or unknown pregnancy, the wrong drug could have devastating effects. An essential reference, Drugs in Pregnancy and Lactation, has been my gold standard textbook for the past 20 years. It details the precise risks from drugs for unborn fetuses and for live-born breast-feeding babies. Having this book available to me on my mobile device via Skyscape has given me a powerful tool to keep my unborn patients safe. I strongly feel that all practicing physicians should be using this text every time they prescribe a medication to women who are at risk for, or who are already pregnant, or who are breast-feeding. I wish that this invaluable text were imbedded in every medical software program offered to every physician in every specialty.
Another great feature of the Skyscape products is that all of the programs load to an external memory card, keeping valuable internal memory free for programs that must be loaded to that space. This feature, and the breadth of the specialty-specific titles, is what distinguish Skyscape from Epocrates. One other cool new feature that has been introduced is "live" program updates. If you have a wireless connection (LAN, Phone Edition, etc.) you can get the very latest textbook information and news alerts from ARTbeat (see my review of ARTbeat at http://www.smartphonemag.com/_archives/may04/PortableMedicalLib.aspx) without having to cradle to your PC via ActiveSync.
Newly added features to the already great Skyscape lineup include Mobile CME's, very complete insurance formularies (with updates), and live updates of software titles on a connected mobile device.
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