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Harvard Medical School has signed an agreement with ePocrates,to provide its medical students with subscriptions to ePocrates Rx Pro, a handheld clinical reference guide.

Harvard students get access to all the features available in the basic version of ePocrates Rx, plus additional premium content such as drug and alternative medicine interactions, clinical tables and guidelines, ePocrates ID (an infectious disease treatment recommendation guide) and over 40 medical calculations.

Harvard Medical School said it requires all incoming medical students to have a handheld device. John Halamka, MD, chief information officer of Harvard Medical School and two of its affiliated hospitals, said he approached ePocrates as a result of frequent requests for ePocrates Rx Pro from 3rd and 4th year medical students. Dr. Halamka was not surprised by the student demand for help with prescribing. "As a doctor myself, I remember the amount of effort required to master medication dosing. ePocrates provides accurate, up-to-date information about therapeutics, drug/drug interactions and age-related dosing."

ePocrates Rx Pro will be presented to students in "Transition to Clinical Training." This two-day course orients medical students to the realities of clinical practice, including the use of point-of-care information to reduce medication errors. ePocrates information will also be consulted by tutors and students at patients' bedsides and in classroom settings, in discussions about dosing, drug interactions and patient safety.