epocrates

Epocrates is my go to App because it is clear and concise and to the point and I can find what I need quickly. I also have another App that is very thorough and shows you studies etc... but personally when I’m taking care of patients I don’t have time to read a study- I need clear, simple and quick answers and that is what Epocrates offers. I’ve used it since NP school and haven’t found anything else that I like better. I’ve worked in the primary care/urgent care setting. The only thing that I would want that Epocrates doesn’t offer (I don’t believe) is A little more info on IV drugs for instance “this should be a slow push over 2 minutes”... obviously we don’t do that in an outpatient setting but when I worked in the hospital those extra tips would have been helpful- I would feel like Epocrates truly had it all of they added that!

This app is good, and I’ve only had one complaint until today. The one complaint I’ve always had is the notifications page that automatically pops up every time I open the app. This is frustrating because there are already alerts in the app to tell you that you have new notifications (which I don’t use for anything anyway), and you have to wait for it to pop up to then have the option to close it out and get on with what you opened the app to look up. It just adds annoying extra clicks and takes extra time when you’re trying to get to something fast. The new annoyance with the app is that they are doing away with the DDx feature this month. This feature has been a constant go to for me in school for certain assignments, and our teachers even encouraged us to get the app to be able to use this feature at the beginning of our first year because it would come in so handy for some of the things they want us to do. Such a disappointment that they are suddenly getting rid of this. I turned to this app a lot over other apps because of this feature throughout school and still today, but I guess I will be rethinking my subscription to this app when I have others like it now.

I am a resident physician and I rely on Epocrates heavily for my daily duties. I am already a paid user, and I was ok with that because of how useful the app is so I didn’t mind. It always bothered me that the first screen is always the newsfeed. I would like to be able to access whatever section I want without so many taps on the screen. But to add insult to injury, And what I do mind, is the introduction of “new mandatory ads” of certain “app sponsors” that pop up when I first open the app. As if what I am already paying as a user is not enough, and in order for the “new ads” to go away, I have to pay more. I would prefer the developers increasing the general subscription fee rather than introducing the ridiculous ads that pop up in the welcome screen or even introducing the higher category subscription. It is just so counterproductive and it takes an awful lot of time to get to what I want now with so many taps. More and more I am opting to use different apps like lexicomp, for which my institution offers a free of charge subscription, minus all the ads of course.

I use this app when PT may not know the medications my consulting Psychiatrist prescribed. Additionally, to advise them to call the prescriber if they have questions or c/o side effects. Furthermore they may have not told the Psychiatrist all the medications they are taking and your app notes “possible interaction”-again I ask them to call or I sent him an email. Personally, after a rear end collision while I was at a dead stop-the Neurologist I consulted for post concussion syndrome prescribed me a meditation and I told him it interacted with another meditation I was on. He argued with me until I had him look it up and I used your app to confirm my guess. He decided not to prescribe it.

Several years ago I registered with this company and noticed my credentials were wrong raising questions by my employers. Epocrates blamed it on the AMA. The AMA had my correct credentials. Not sure what game they are playing so I closed my account. Recently I stupidly registered with them again to try this app again, and their site could not recognize my credentials. I then noticed on Google that my credentials were changed by numerous web sites to incorrect listings again. Clearly these “ratings” sites are in cahoots ( buying or sharing)with epocrates being given or creating false credentials by epocrates and then putting them on Google search indicating a person is not a physician. Epocrates is either deliberately falsifying credentials or unable to correct their incorrect information. I just signed up with them after years of complaints and within weeks my false information reappeared on Google. Think Facebook is bad, beware of your information if you voluntarily provide this company your credentials. I contacted them to erase my credentials and was told their would be no definite time frame and I should my lawyers contact their lawyers. Beware what to whom they are selling your info and if it is at all correct. May require a class action lawsuit for them to take this seriously.