Well I finally took the leap and am primarily relying on my iPhone to look up medication doses, which I don't know off the top of my head. Gone are the days of purchasing Tarascon's pocket Pharmacopoeia every few years or so.
I still haven't settled on which I like more. Both are free. Both are available on multiple platforms, including iOS, Blackberry, and Android. Both have some unique features which I find useful.
Common strengths for both apps:
- They're free!
- Easy to find drug you are looking for. Epocrates has a Search screen as the home page. Micromedex has a Search screen and alphabetical list of medications as the home page.
- Dosing adjustments based on renal and hepatic function
- Adult and pediatric dosing recommendations
- Safety information with preganancy and lactation
Unique strengths of the apps:
Micromedex:
- Includes toxicology information for all the medications (what to do in case of an overdose)
- I have heard that this Thomson Reuters app has been more peer-reviewed and accepted as a very reliable resource, especially for pediatric dosing.
- Free from obvious advertisements (which is sometimes seen in Epocrates via the Doc Alerts)
Epocrates:
- Has pricing information
- Allows user to identify unknown pill based on pill characteristics (color, shape, etc)
- Ability for you to take notes on the app
They both will likely answer 99% of what you are looking for from a drug-prescribing perspective. So, which do you prefer and why?