Reilly Coch
4th Year Medical Student
Case Western Reserve University

"As a physician-in-training, there are only a few things that I depend upon: my stethoscope, my white coat, and my PDA. Of these three, there is only one that I cannot live without - and it's not a stethoscope or a white coat."

"The economy of modern medicine is based upon knowledge and peer-reviewed articles are the currency of that economy. With so many institutions preaching and practicing evidence-based medicine, the ability to access peer-reviewed information has become the single most important skill to be mastered by physicians in all stages of medical training. In the outpatient clinic, the 5 Minute Clinical Consult and IFacts are extremely useful, while DrDrugs is essential in the hospital, and the 5 Minute Emergency Consult is the best resource in the ER. The wealth of information contained within these applications is - literally - at my fingertips no matter what setting or time of day I am in. My institution recently purchased a subscription to a well-regarded online evidence-based medicine site; while the value of this resource is indisputable, the amazing utility, ease of use and portability of Skyscape applications easily trump the online sites. "

"The ability to generate differential diagnoses is, traditionally, one of the earliest medical skills taught in medical school and, I would argue, the hardest to master. Thanks to the Skyscape applications, this task is much easier than it has ever been before. No need to wait for a more experienced physician to show up when I have an encyclopedia of knowledge on my belt clip! More importantly, though, I have personally made life-saving and split-second therapeutic decisions using Skyscape applications: recently, a patient was admitted to my ICU service in respiratory distress with wheezing and was not responding to bronchodilator therapy. A quick check of the 5MCC and 5MEC revealed another possibility that had not been considered; based on this new information, the bronchodilator treatments were immediately stopped and the patient given positive airway pressure for bronchomalacia, resulting in rapid clinical improvement and quick recovery. Kudos to the medical student for pursuing the real diagnosis on his PDA!"

"What separates the Skyscape applications from all other available handheld medical applications is the user interface. I have been using Skyscape products since version 1.0 more than 3 years ago and have watched the ART interface improve dramatically during that time. Now in color, the navigation buttons provided on many Skyscape applications, easy search engines, the inter-application links, history pages, and notes pages all add up to an efficient, streamlined, and elegant way to access the encyclopedic amounts of information contained within the world's best medical texts. Other companies have tried simply scanning in whole medical texts, with dismal results; it is precisely those navigation "extras" found on all Skyscape applications that make them so essential for physicians on the go."

"I cannot say enough about the value of the Skyscape applications. I have preached the joys of handheld computing to colleagues at all of the clinics and hospitals where I work and am often called to "produce the evidence" on rounds by senior physicians who know that I carry a library's worth of information on my belt. Thank you, Skyscape! "