Are There Adequate Alternatives to UpToDate?
(courtesy of medinfo)
Denison Memorial Library announced to its users that it will not be able to provide access to UpToDate from home.
"Many faculty and students have asked the library to reinstate off campus access to UpToDate®. We pursued new pricing, and to reinstate off campus access would cost over $330,000. That sum is equivalent to over 40% of the libraryÂs entire budget for ALL resources. Regretfully, we will NOT be able to reinstate remote access. This decision is consistent with the trend among academic health sciences libraries nationally. "
Denison has set up trials for two alternative products to UpToDate: FirstConsult (from MDConsult) and eMedicine and they included a comparison chart so that users evaluating the products can see the differences between all three products.
I wish Denison luck in their product evaluations, I hope they get enough users with insightful responses to make an informed choice. I know of one library where they tried to evaluate FirstConsult and the received hate mail from doctors who feared that they were going to get rid of UpToDate.
Which brings me to a question that I need to ask. Why do doctors love UpToDate so much? Is the content that much different than FirstConsult and eMedicine? All three products cover approximately the same medical topics, with a few exceptions: example: UpToDate's Neurology section is in development and they do not have Urology nor Surgery section however, FirstConsult and eMedicine do.
Why aren't we hearing from Urologists and Surgeonclamoringng for FirstConsult and eMedicine, or is it just one large vocal segment of physicians (and med. students) demanding UpToDate?
How important is it for doctors to get the information from home? UpToDate has clearly outpriced itself for institutions to offer offsite access to its users. If home access is so important does that tip the scales in favor of FirstConsult and eMedicine?
How important is it for doctors to have the information on the handheld? It seems UpToDate has been rather latcomingng on to the handheld scene and they only offer PocketPC access to individual subscribers, while FirstConsult and eMedicine offer Palm and PocketPC to institutional users.
What about the EMR? In the push to get hospitals using electronic medical records, I have yet to hear about UpToDate working with EMR software companies to integrate their point of care product in the EMR. I know FirstConsult/MDConsult is currently doing that with iConsult, FirstConsult/MDConsult can be embedded into the hospital's EMR.
I realize UpToDate is good, and they were one of the first products out there to offer this kind of service. But is UpToDate's content really that much more superior to FirstConsult and eMedicine that doctors are willing to put up with a product that seems to have extremelrestrictiveve access policies and is not rapidly expanding into needed areas like the handheld and EMR market? Or are physicians apathetic? They know about UpToDate, they know it is a good product, but they don't care to learn or be bothered with other products because they are sticking with the one that they are familiar with come hell or high water.
6 Comments:
UpToDate do offer PocketPC and Palm access to individual subscribers - but only via WIFI.j
I am a 4th year medical student, and have always been amazed at residents' and other medical students' insistence on Uptodate. I much prefer eMedicine, which is free (ish). However, I tried their PDA solution and found it wanting. While I was looking for something like 5mcc (great interface, but sadly lacking in content), what I got was basically an ebook, without any search functionality, which is why I like eMedicine + Google (with "site:www.emedicine.com" as a filter) in the first place.
Up to Date is an important resource but I'm not infatuated. Enjoy your blog.
How about PIER and DynaMed? These resources actually rate the evidence unlike some of the others (UpToDate for instance).
Hey Michelle.
It has been my impression that clinicians at our organization insist on UpToDate because they know it and know of it, and that's all. I think that if its competitors did better marketing, we could actually get more clinicians to compare the products based on their features and content.
I randomly stumbled onto this comment section.
I have used MDConsult and uptodate...MDConsult for about 2 years prior to now using uptodate for about 3 years. I also occasionally have used emedicine, especially when they used to let you look at all the pictures for free.
Anyway...I do feel uptodate is far superior content-wise to the others especially regarding internal medicine content.
The confidence afforded by the extreme detail in uptodate is unparalleled by ANY resources I have yet encountered with regard to medicine.
Bill Dailey, MD, MS
Derm and surgery content is definitely lacking on uptodate.
Post a Comment
<< Home