Epocrates, Inc is a healthcare technology company whose products provide clinicians with mobile and online clinical information at the point-of-care. Epocrates products include clinical and formulary references, peer-reviewed decision support software, and other educational and messaging tools that are used by more than 900,000 medical professionals [1]. Software, such as Epocrates, is credited with helping clinicians reduce medial errors. Epocrates also conducts domestic and international market research with healthcare professionals.
Epocrates launched its first product, Epocrates Rx, on the Palm OS platform in 1999 and today supports multiple mobile platforms including iPhone/iPod touch, BlackBerry, Palm OS, Windows Mobile, Palm webOS and Android. It was one of the applications showcased by Apple on stage when Steve Jobs first announced third-party apps [2].
PDAs (personal digital assistants), and more recently smartphones, have become increasingly popular among physicians in the past decade as the primary tool for accessing clinical information at the point of care. A recent Manhattan Research study found that 64% of U.S. physicians currently own a smartphone or PDA, and that number is expected to increase to 81% by 2012.
References
- ^ ePharm5, More than 900,000 medical professionals use Epocrates mobile software (2009).
- ^ http://techcrunch.com/2008/03/06/live-blogging-of-apple-iphone-sdk-event-begins-soon/