It’s no secret to anyone who knows me that I’d be lost without my BlackBerry or handheld of choice at the moment. I actually keep two cell phones: one for personal use and one for work use, and both can run medical software. Up until recently, only my Palm 700P turned 755P could; there was nothing out for the Blackberry.

Skyscape changed that as of last year. I have replaced my 755P with a Windows Mobile 6 phone. (No hate mail please. With the BlackBerry doing more and more, I found my need for the Palm touchscreen less and less, and, well… that new phone was just so hard to resist.)

Skyscape has been working at break-neck speed this year to bring an incredible number of new platforms, products and functionality to the mobile healthcare community. I reviewed their BlackBerry software last year and it quickly became my favorite platform. That’s just me, others love the pocket PC and Palm forms of their software, they are all great. But if I have to only bring one phone with me, it’s going to be my BlackBerry. Once a BlackBerry owner, always a BlackBerry owner.
Skyscape now offers over 550 medical references spanning 35 specialties, from more than 45 major medical publishers. Their information covers a broad range of topics including drug guides & interaction checkers, disease information, diagnosis and treatment protocols, medical alerts, labs, clinical trials, formularies, coding, calculators, CME and more. It’s a bit like being a kid in a candy store. They even have a substantial collection on Alternative Medicine. I like the fact that you can browse inside each book before you purchase so see if it’s in a format you like and information that is useful to you.

In 2007 they released the largest selection of medical resources available anywhere for the BlackBerry. And, within weeks of the iPhone launch, Skyscape had over 20 products available for that device as well as the iTouch. (I reviewed that software in a prior edition of the magazine) The number of products available from Skyscape for the iPhone and BlackBerry devices continues to grow. In December Skyscape also launched over 300 of their resources for the Symbian S60, Third Edition. This is the largest selection of electronic medical information for Symbian users anywhere in the world.

What has to be my absolute favorite thing about the Skyscape products is cross-linking. It took me a while to really get how powerful it was. Skyscape also  added over-the air automatic updating, interactive flow charts & dosing calculators. A product that is unique and new this year is "Gray’s Anatomy" Flash Cards with Skyscape’s exclusive Hot Spot technology that allows the user to tap on anatomy areas to get more detailed information.

British Invasion!
If all that wasn’t enough, they also made a huge leap across the pond to the UK this year. They now offer a growing library of over 100 UK-specific resources, including indispensable gold-standard resources such as the BNF (British National Formulary) and BNFc (British National Formulary for Children). This impressive library of medical resources includes the Oxford Handbooks, Evidence Based Medicine Guidelines and Cochrane Reviews.

I particularly like that they bundle groups of books that go together for a substantial discount. They offer students rebates as well (why wasn’t all this good stuff around when I was a student!)

Don’t forget to check out Labs 360, CME 360 and the new free mobile CME covering over 20 specialties. Their formulary product RxPlan now covers all major formularies available in the US. Their medical news and alert program, MedAlert, got a new interface and is now available via the desktop.

If I sound a little biased here it’s because I am. But not because I am being paid to be. I am not a Skyscape employee (I wish). I just really love their products, the way they all click together, they are fast, they don’t crash, they save me time and Customer service/tech support is quick and friendly and most importantly they help me do my job better!