Doctors responding to an MM&M survey hosted by Sermo—a social network for practicing physicians—said they use the Epocrates mobile app more often for work purposes than any other app.
The Epocrates app was a clear winner, with 53 of 73 physicians (73%) naming the drug reference app as one of the most used on a daily basis. WebMD’s Medscape app came in second place, with 27 docs (37%) listing Medscape as a most used app on the day-to-day, practice level.
Others apps mentioned included MedCalc, a clinical calculator (11 docs); Stat ICD-9 (11 docs), a diagnosis coding app; and Fingertip Formulary, a health plan and drug tier status reference app. Eleven docs cited the Sermo app as a most-used application. One doc listed Merck’s MerckMedicus as a most-used app, and six said they don’t currently use any apps at work, but plan to in the near future, according to the poll results.
Basic versions of the most used apps cited by Sermo docs are available free of charge, and indeed, 66% of survey respondents said they prefer free, ad-supported apps over paid apps. Thirty-four percent said they are willing to pay for an app without advertisements.
Eighty percent of the docs surveyed said they do not use apps developed by pharma companies, according to the survey. Apple’s iPhone was the favored mobile device for doctors (40%), with Google’s Android in second place (21%), followed by Blackberry at 7%. Six percent said they use both the iPhone and iPad.
In comments on the survey, physicians discussed new tablet announcements at the Consumer Electronics Association’s International CES tradeshow, as well as the pros and cons of iPhone and Android operating systems. A physician commenting on the larger screen size of upcoming Toshiba and Motorola tablets said a screen size larger than the iPad “will be necessary” for tablets to be increasingly useful “in a clinical setting.”  
Sermo hosted the MM&M survey on its site beginning January 6. Results are culled from responses posted between January 6 and 10.

From the February 01, 2011 Issue of MM+M - Medical Marketing and Media