Lexi-Comp medical database app coming to webOS 30
Mon, 31 Aug 2009 1:29 pm EDT
Medical database company Lexi-Comp has announced that they are developing a webOS version of their highly-rated app. The Lexi-Comp app has been available for Palm OS, Windows Mobile, and BlackBerry OS for years and recently launched on the iPhone. The Lexi-COMPLETE database suite includes drug tables with ingredients and side-effects, interaction matrices, drug allergy diagnosis, and assistive databases for pregnancy, pediatrics, pharmacogenomics (say that ten times fast), and more.
Lexi-Comp’s software on other platforms is available on a subscription basis and is regularly updated with new information (it's safe to assume the same will be true of a webOS version). They are currently planning on a Fall 2009 release for Lexi-Comp for webOS, so you medical professionals rocking webOS shouldn’t have to wait too much longer.
Thanks to Dr. Beers for the tip!
30 Comments
As a pharmacist I know this program is wonderful, 100X better than Epocates, and well worth the cost. I use on a nearly daily bases. I know it's kind of pricey, but it's well worth the cost if you work in the medical field... although the hospital I work for does buy it for us :-)
EXCELLENT! It may be pricey on other platforms but I'm glad to see movement on the medical front for webOS. Depending on the price at launch I may spring for it... I've seen it in use and it's actually a very powerful program. IMO, more powerful than ePocrates with all its PAID bells and whistles.
I agree with anonymous #2. I've been using Epocrates for 10 years (back when I had to delete other apps to fit it on my 2Mb Palm V). I even paid for some of the other packages they offer, but I'd leave in a second for a WebOS native drug database.
Epocrates runs ok in Classic for me, but a native app would be light years ahead of it.
I'm an EMT with my local volunteer ambulance corps, and I've used my Pre more than a few times to look up drug info or to get some background on a medical condition with which I was unfamiliar. I used to have ePocrates on my Handspring Visor, and later I got a copy of the PDR on one of the Visor memory cards (I forget what they called them right now). Those were great because the Visor was an off-line piece of kit, but with internet connectivity via cellular tower and WiFi at all the area hospitals I think I can probably get whatever information I need from a simple internet search. Wikipedia's mobile site has been particularly helpful (and quick) for drug lookups on the fly. Not sure I'd pay $100+ for information I can get with a Google search.
Be careful using Wikipedia for drug info. Especially for interactions and contraindications. I have found it VERY inacurate especially with popular drugs.
Agreed. Wikipedia is great, but you'll want a better source of info. I'd recommend Epocrates online on your Pre's browser, or Epocrates on the Palm Classic emulator. Mobile web access is slightly cumbersome, but doable. Epocrates on Palm Classic works great. (But a NATIVE app would be best!)
Thanks for the info. I'll check out ePocrates online. Mostly I use the lookup info to learn about a drug's basic use when I'm not familiar with the drug name. You'd be amazed at how often patients don't know why they're taking a particular med. Having a good list of meds is often a better way to get a patient's medical history than asking them.
That being said, interaction data could be important especially in cases of suspected OD or abuse, or when you get the call for the unconscious old person who ends up having a cabinet full of pill bottles.
Hopefully they make it look prettier!
This is excellent! SO excited. Lexi-Comp is far more than just dosing. They've got an incredibly robust interaction database. I would drop ePocrates for this in a heartbeat. Thank you, PreCentral...you just made my day!
As the iPhone's saturated app store clearly shows us, there's plenty of room for other operating systems. WebOS has the advantage that it's already so easy to write for. We'll see what happens.
Epocrates can only offer itself for free because of money it gets from pharmaceutical companies and that is a clear compromise of its quality & reliability. Developers will support platforms that users will pay for, so WebOs will most likely get great development for healthcare apps since docs need highly subspecialized and personalizable apps, a hard keyboard to input large amounts of text quickly, and multitasking is a must have (flipping cards for my email, electronic ordering system, LexiComp, disease database & my online journal is what I envision). When I started residency we were all getting Tungstens, & if I were runnimg the program now, the residents would be getting palm pres & the LexiComp academic account. I'm very excited about the release of this software & other upcoming medical software for WebOs.
I currently have the palmos version along with micromedex running on classic. Its excellent and I believe this should be even better. Great job palm.
this is soooo awesome! This program is about more than just looking up drug information, the version for iPhone also has things like a medical dictionary, Harrison's Internal med, 5 minute ped consult, etc. etc.
hopefully these make it on to the pre as well!
I hope they come out with a lite version. I am still a second year medical student, so drug references aren't essential, but useful. Not quite at the point where I would spend $100 for it. However, when I am on the wards in 3rd year, that might totally be different.
I love the fact that companies are preparing these tools!
Complex - check out if your university has a LexiComp academic account - usually students can get access through those types of institutional accounts.
And trust me, once you're on the wards, you'll want every mobile tool you can get a hold of to make sure that you've got the latest information at your fingertips. The days of the booklet pharmacopia are over....it's all electronic now.
Great! I agree with Complex Pants. If there's a lite version, I'm sold. My school had a special for the epocrates version with the ddx, but I'm willing to have a lite version of a pharm program if it's native to webos.
I have used Lexi-Comp for 15 years, after PharmDs recommended it. I downloaded epocrates and used both for 6 months in a comparison trial last year but kept finding Lexi had better info.
I will be thrilled to use a native app over the Classic emulator. THANK YOU!!!
PS. Even use of the Epocrates Pro version does not measure up to Lexi. It is definitely worth the cost.