MS4 Epocrates Review
When I was an MS2, Epocrates offered a free 4 year license for their full software “Epocrates Essentials Deluxe” valued at $199/year. I initially didn’t find it very helpful because as a new MS2 I didn’t understand the majority of the topics included. Additionally, at the time I had an iPhone 3G, so the software ran painfully slowly.
Immediately before 3rd year began, I was due for an Epocrates license renewal, but the software would not accept my password so I called Epocrates at (650) 227-1700 and they immediately renewed my license free of charge.
I began 3rd year with inpatient medicine (one of the more difficult rotations) and found myself using Epocrates constantly, especially when my team was rounding. Anything the residents or attending said I could “decode” using Epocrates. Who the hell knows what the appropriate treatment for a cluster headache is in the beginning of their 3rdyear?? Additionally we are only taught generic medication names in pharmacology and the docs on the wards mostly use medication trade names (e.g. the proton pump inhibitor protonix is the trade name for the generic drug pantoprazole).
I was using Epocrates to look up forgotten pathophysiology, drug names, treatment options and common drug side effects (to name only a few uses for Epocrates) so much that 1) I decided to get a iPhone 3G(S) so I could navigate more quickly, and 2) at the beginning of each rotation I told my team that I used Epocrates “constantly” so they wouldn’t think I was emailing/texting all day. Having this software not only helped my learn faster, but made me look like a star. Often times when the team was stumped by a medical question I was able to get the answer in Epocrates. I found Epocrates useful on all rotations, and in all situations. It’s a medical encyclopedia that goes everywhere with you.
The disadvantages are few compared to the advantages.
1) If you have an older phone with a slower processer, Epocrates will frustrate you. All medical conversations on the wards happens in nanoseconds, and if you tell your attending you have the answer to some obscure question in your phone and it take more than a 30 seconds to a minute to deliver it, you look dumb. Get a faster phone and look like a pro.
2) Although the drug info is amazing, the actual drug mechanism of action is generally sparse, only a sentence or 2. I generally had to go to Wikipedia for the full drug MOA.
3) I heard that each time you update, Epocrates sends (sells?) the info you are looking up to the pharm companies, so they can monitor their drug use by medical professionals. That may or may not be a big deal to you, but it hasn’t stopped me from using it.
Overall Epocrates is a very useful tool for medical students. I suggest everyone get comfortable with the software early on in 3rd year and take advantage of all it has to offer.