Epocrates ‘Bugs + Drugs’ infectious disease app inaccurate, should be pulled: reviewer

For clinicians who increasingly rely on major reference apps via smartphone and tablet, this sounds a loud cautionary note. This pharmacist’s detailed analysis of the errors and misinterpretation contained in the recently released and best-selling Epocrates reference app on the highly sensitive topic of infectious disease (including those that plague hospitals such as MRSA) culminates in a call to pull it from the Apple App Store. In several instances, the app pointed to the wrong antibiotic for an organism. The other faults are in using Athenahealth information to create what is called an antibiogram, “to identify what organisms are susceptible to what antibiotics in that locale”. The iMedicalApps analysis by Timothy Aungst, Pharm.D., professor at Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences has created quite a stir in the usual places. FierceMobileHealthcare covers this but decides to further blow up the balloon (or move off the point) in citing the IMS Institute for Healthcare Informatics and Journal of Cancer Education on the plain ineffectiveness and non-validation of the vast majority of healthcare apps–mainly consumer.