DynaMed is a clinical medical reference tool that was created by physicians for physicians and other health care professionals. It contains over 2,000 topics (diseases and conditions) that are updated daily via information from over 500 medical journals and systematic evidence review databases. Besides these topics, DynaMed now contains information on over 800 summaries from AHFS Drug Information. New evidence that is published in these journals is added to information already contained in DynaMed to come up with integrated, evidence based information on various topics. This drug information source is also available in a PDA application for Palm OS and Microsoft Mobile.
Each of the topics within DynaMed can be looked into further. There are 12 subtopics of information within most topics which include: general information, causes and risk factors, complications and associated conditions, history, physical, diagnosis, prognosis, treatment, prevention and screening, references including reviews and guidelines, patient information, and acknowledgements. The user can click on any of these 12 subtopics to get the information that the health care professional desires.
Specific information regarding the PDA version of DynaMed and compatibility:
From: http://www.epnet.com.proxy.lib.uiowa.edu/dynamed/technical.php accessed on 11/11/2007.
Palms – Devices running Palm OS 3.5 and higher. For example: Palm m500 series, Palm m700 series, Treo series, Tungsten series, and Zire series
Pocket PC – Devices running Microsoft Windows Mobile 5.0 or Microsoft PocketPC 2000 (ARM/X-SCALE only), PocketPC 2002, PocketPC 2003, PocketPC 2003 SE.
Supported Devices:
Pocket PC 2000, Pocket PC 2002, Pocket PC 2003
Devices that use Intel StrongArm, X-Scale, and Samsung processors
Windows Smartphone
Note: The downloaded version of DynaMed is not compatible with Blackberry or iPhone but the Web-based version of DynaMed can be accessed with a wireless Internet connection on a variety of handheld devices. DynaMed requires 25 MB of disk space on either the PDA device or memory card.
Overall, DynaMed is a valuable reference if you want information grouped by medical conditions and health topics. There is some drug information available with this reference, but it is categorized by drug class rather than individual drugs. For example, there is not a topic for Lisinopril but there is a topic titled ACE Inhibitors. There is not a lot of drug information available in DynaMed as compared to Drug Facts and Comparisons or Clinical Pharmacology, but the available information on disease states could be valuable for a Clinical Pharmacist. I find the reference to be handy because it provides lots of information regarding disease states. It is probably more useful for MDs or medical students, but we as pharmacy students can find ways to utilize this source also.
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2 comments:
Dynamed is very user-friendly. I like the fact that it automatically shows boxed warnings for specific drugs when they are selected. Also, ICD-9 and ICD-10 codes are nice to have, especially if you perform billing for certain case management activities. The lack of general information on certain medications (e.g. isoniazid) does limit its value to practicing pharmacists compared to other drug information sources. There are specific references for drug classes, like ACE Inhibitors. You just have to type in the name of the drug in the drug class.
I would consider DynaMed a source to have as an adjunct to something else. I don't really like the lay out of the program and like the others said you can't search for a specific drug. This would definately be better for a doctor or med student to check guidelines and order of prescribing. Some clinical RPH's might use this to check charts for indications and to see if there is anything else out there to use if pt is having a ADR.
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