Renowned infection disease treatment guide gets a mobile makeover

Facing increasing pressure from competitors, the ubiquitous Sanford Guide for prevention and treatment of infectious disease just debuted its first mobile app.

The new app gives physicians mobile access to medical literature, treatment guidelines, drug information, and infection control measures on their smartphones and tablets, according to company officials.

Physicians have long carried the palm-sized guide in their pockets for quick reference, says Brenda Helm, infection prevention manager for The Heart Hospital - Baylor in Plano, Texas. Having the app available on mobile devices will lighten their load, she predicts.

"The search [function] is easier and it is not as cumbersome to carry [the book] with them," Helms says. "The pocket guides are not big, but they carry their phones anyway and having it on their phones lets them carry one less thing."

Searchability is a key value, too, as the paper Guide was a bit complicated for new users to learn how to navigate, she adds. Perhaps even more valuable will be having access to the most recent data through the app, as opposed to possibly out-of-date information in a paper edition, she says.

Reviewers at AppsMeNow gave the new app a general thumbs-up. Particularly useful, they say, are internal links that allow physicians to navigate between related content. "For instance, drug regimens on disease pages are linked to corresponding pages for each drug containing comprehensive information on usage, dosing, adverse effects, activity, pharmacology, pharmacodynamics and drug-drug interactions," reviewers say.

The mobile move may have come just in time, as well-known groups like Johns Hopkins have debuted their own "Johns Hopkins ABX Guide" to some positive reviews. A number of users on the ABX iTunes preview page comment that they still carry a paper Guide, but use the Johns Hopkins app more because of its convenience.

The new app is available for the iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch, as well as all Android devices.

To learn more:
- read Sanford Guide's press release
- check out AppsMeNow's review
- get more detail at iTunes