Duke University Health System Provides Epocrates Drug Reference Guide to Over 2,000 Students, Residents and Faculty

Duke University Health System Provides Epocrates Drug Reference Guide to Over 2,000 Students, Residents and Faculty

DURHAM, N.C. and SAN MATEO, Calif., Dec. 14 /PRNewswire/ -- As part of its mobile computing initiative designed to put patient information and medical reference information in the hands of the caregivers at the point of care, Duke University Health System has reached a five-year agreement with Epocrates, Inc. to provide the Epocrates Rx Pro(TM) mobile drug reference guide to over 2,000 medical students, residents and faculty. Duke University Health System includes Duke Hospital, a top three-rated medical school according to U.S. News & World Report, Durham Regional Hospital, Duke Health Raleigh Hospital and a network of clinics.

"As we looked for an application to enhance our medical reference suite of applications, we turned to our residents, faculty, and medical students to determine not only what product they were currently using, but what product they would like to see adopted for use across the Health System," said Asif Ahmad, Vice President and Chief Information Officer of medical information systems at Duke University Health System.

"The mobile computing/PDA initiative has a focus on patient safety, improved patient care, and medical education. Epocrates was the application of choice among faculty, residents (physicians), and medical students, and other health care extenders," added Dr. Michael Russell, Associate CIO for Clinical Affairs, and an Epocrates user.

The Epocrates Rx Pro(TM) drug reference includes over 3,000 monographs including adult and pediatric dosing, contraindications and cautions and adverse reactions; an alternative medicine guide covering over 400 herbals; the MultiCheck(R) function capable of checking up to 30 drugs simultaneously for interactions; health plan formulary coverage and retail prices; the Epocrates ID(R) infectious disease treatment guide; and built-in dosing and medical calculators.

"Epocrates is pleased to be an integral part of Duke's mission to re-define health care through mobile technology. Now, students, residents and faculty alike can quickly access consistent, up-to-date information on medications, drug interactions and related topics, whether in the classroom or at the point-of-care," said Kirk Loevner, CEO, Epocrates, Inc.

Almost every medical student -- estimated at more than 60,000 -- is expected to use handheld computers or PDAs this year, according to Gartner Research, and already over half of medical students are using the Epocrates Rx(R) or Epocrates Rx Pro(TM) drug reference applications. Additionally, every U.S. medical school, and over 200 residency programs participate in Epocrates' student discount program.

ABOUT EPOCRATES, INC.

San Mateo, CA-based Epocrates Inc. is the leading provider of clinical information at the point of care, with more than 420,000 health care professionals, including over 25 percent of U.S. physicians, actively using its products. Epocrates' product offering is led by the Epocrates(R) Essentials mobile clinical reference suite featuring all of the key decision support applications -- drugs, diseases, and diagnostics -- required for today's health care professional. The Epocrates Rx(R) and Epocrates Rx Pro(TM) drug reference products are the most widely used in the industry, by individual clinicians and by medical groups, hospitals, universities and medical libraries. Epocrates also provides formulary information from health plans, hospitals, Medicaid agencies and pharmacy benefit management (PBM) companies that represent over 95 million individuals, and messaging and market research services. For more information, visit www.epocrates.com.

ABOUT DUKE UNIVERSITY MEDICAL CENTER and DUKE UNIVERSITY HEALTH SYSTEM

Duke University Health System is a non-profit, fully integrated academic health care system dedicated to providing outstanding patient care, educating tomorrow's health care leaders, and discovering new and better ways to treat disease through biomedical research. The hub of the Health System -- Duke University Medical Center, in Durham, North Carolina -- is consistently rated among the top hospitals in the country by U.S. News & World Report. The youngest of the nation's leading medical centers, Duke University Medical Center operates one of the country's largest clinical and biomedical research enterprises, and quickly translates advances in technology and medical knowledge into improved patient care. It is the leading medical center in the Southeast, with a medical school ranked among the top three in the nation.

Through its Health System, Duke provides clinical services in convenient locations throughout the surrounding region. Included in the Health System are three hospitals (Duke Hospital, Durham Regional Hospital, and Duke Health Raleigh Hospital), ambulatory surgery centers, primary and specialty care clinics, home care, hospice, skilled nursing care, wellness centers, and community-based clinical partnerships. For more information, visit www.dukemednews.org


Source: Epocrates Inc.

CONTACT: Katherine Thornberry of Epocrates, Inc. Public Relations,
+1-650-227-1713, or kthornberry@epocrates.com; or Jeffrey Molter of Duke
University Health Center, +1-919-684-4148, or molte001@mc.duke.edu

Web site: http://www.mc.duke.edu/

Web site: http://www.epocrates.com/


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