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Unbound Medicine has released the most recent version, the 27th edition, of the pediatric resource for physicians Red Book for Palm OS and Windows Mobile PDAs and smartphones. Red Book contains current recommendations for diagnosing, treating, and preventing over 200 infectious diseases in infants, children, and adolescents.

It was created by the American Academy of Pediatrics Committee on Infectious Diseases in conjunction with the CDC, the FDA, and other nstitutions, with contributions by hundreds of physicians nationwide, according to Unbound Medicine.

In addition to mobile devices, Unbound Medicine's platform enables users to access the text of Red Book, which sells for $99, over the Web with a computer.

Handhelds = Safety
The National Academy of Science - Institute of Medicine estimates mistakes cost the healthcare system more than $2 billion annually, with over $100 million coming from preventable drug errors alone. Treatment prescribed by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services includes increased use of information technology, such as handhelds, as among the most cost effective ways to improve patient care and reduce medical errors.

A survey of 1,600 physicians by Skyscape back in 2004 corroborated these findings. Questioned doctors said PDAs reduce errors by more than 4 percent, with 92 percent of them asserting handhelds improve efficiency. Among internists, 24 percent indicated they reduce their medical errors by over 10 percent, while an additional 41 percent achieved a lesser, but still impressive, 6 percent reduction.

Another survey, this one of emergency room physicians by insurer MedAmerica Mutual told a similar story. 65 percent of respondents said PDAs helped them avoid a dosing error, 58 percent a dosing frequency error, 25 percent a drug error, 24 percent a therapeutic error, and 18 percent other types of errors.

66 percent of respondents used their PDA to look up information and perform medical calculations on every shift, with an additional 15 percent using their devices on more than half of their shifts. When asked to describe how the devices was used in their clinical practice, 93 percent said as a drug reference, 56 percent a medical calculator, and 38 percent a medical reference.