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PDA Corner: Clinical Pharmacology OnHandClinical Pharmacology database is the newest electronic resource at HSLS available in a handheld version. Clinical Pharmacology OnHand (CPOH) joins mobile-MICROMEDEX in providing drug information in PDA format for HSLS patrons. While CPOH includes a substantial proportion of the information available through the Web-based version of Clinical Pharmacology, it is organized and accessed differently. Installation of all basic modules lets the user do three types of searches: Drug Information, Drug Interactions, and IV Alert. Within Drug Information, the user can search for or view one drug "detail" at a time (description, indications/dosage, contraindications, etc.). Having retrieved information about one detail, however, the user can easily switch to a different detail for the same drug using a dropdown menu listing all drug detail types available. Thus, monograph content is delivered, even though start-to-finish access to monograph texts is not available the way it is on the Web version. From within any search, the user can build a report showing drug interactions. This feature -- and general navigation within CPOH as well -- would be more convenient if program screens included buttons or icons for easy linking back to the Home screen or to other search modules. As it is, one must rely entirely on the View menu at the top of the screen to get around. Perhaps the most noticeable omission compared to the Web version is the drug product identification function. To fill this gap, Gold Standard recently released the CPOH Drug Identifier, but this module is not part of the CPOH download available at no cost to HSLS patrons; each individual user must purchase it separately. Other features absent from the handheld product include product comparison, laboratory reference values, and patient education handouts. CPOH’s flexible installation options facilitate a quick and straightforward download. Users choose from three different installation packages: Standard without IV module, IV module only, and Standard plus IV module. The application can be installed either to the PDA's main memory or to an external storage device. Installation requires up to 25 Mb of free memory. 
. In addition to drug information, HSLS PDA users can also seek clinical decision support (through FIRSTConsult Handheld) and access the biomedical literature (through PubMed on Tap). The complete list of licensed HSLS resources with PDA versions is available from the recently updated HSLS PDA Guide at www.hsls.pitt.edu/guides/pda/. 
. The availability of a PDA version for a particular database is also indicated within the database description on the HSLS Database by Title page www.hsls.pitt.edu/resources/databases/titles --Patricia Weiss |
