Natural Standard Handheld/Desktop Version

Natural Standard subscribers are eligible to receive free handheld and desktop versions of the database for one year plus a 15 percent discount on Skyscape references. This offer is available through December 2010.

With the handheld version, individuals can quickly access evidence-based information about integrative therapies, including herbs, supplements, alternative modalities, exercise and nutrition. This decision-support tool also cross-indexes with all of Skyscape's 500+ clinical, drug and diagnostic references.

The desktop version contains consolidated data on effectiveness, side effects, interactions, dosing, pregnancy, breastfeeding, historical background, practitioner accreditation, theory and safety. Individual subscriptions are also available for both handheld and desktop versions.

Simply e-mail info@naturalstandard.com and provide a complete e-mail address list of authorized subscribers who are interested in taking advantage of this special offer. Subscribers will receive personal codes to activate their handheld/desktop versions.

To receive a 15 percent discount on additional Skyscape references, please visit www.skyscape.com/naturalstandard and enter discount code: 93821.

Comments

[Ryan]

This is a really great offer since practitioners need to be highly mobile in today’s fast-paced health care industry, and a handheld version of the Natural Standard database would help them accomplish that. Patients and fellow healthcare professionals alike expect instant information. One must have resources on himself or herself to keep up with those requests. It is not practical to leave a patient or a meeting in order to track down a computer or book to obtain answers. Ultimately, handheld access to the Natural Standard database will improve patient care.

[EB]

It is pretty amazing what is available right at your fingertips these days. Being a pharmacy student, they encourage us to use PDAs, which can load various drug programs, including Lexi-Comp, Micromedex and Epocrates, just to name a few. These are great resources for your typical drugs, but from my experience, they lack in the herbal and natural products department.

Natural Standard is the place to go for information regarding complementary and alternative therapies. You know the information is both evidence-based and of high quality. Having it available on your PDA is very convenient. It is especially hehlpful in retail settings when you have a lot of customers coming in asking about all the herbal supplements.

[Brian]

Natural Standard has certainly kept up with today's technology. PDAs and other handheld devices are becoming so common among healthcare providers. Now that Natural Standard is available on handheld programs, it will be so much easier for providers to quickly look up what they need.

Also, physicians and pharmacists should be using the new interactions checker every day to scan for interactions between patient meds and their OTC medications. For consumers, this will also be helpful when they are doing their shopping. Instead of just going to picking up what they heard about in recent stories, they can check to see if it will interact with any of their current meds before buying them. These applications are sure to be a big help.

[Rob]

I love having Natural Standard on my PDA! I often feel like I have a major advantage over my colleagues when a patient asks about his/her supplements. It is a great feeling to see someone else scrambling to a computer or looking baffled when I can easily punch up information for the patient right on my smart-phone.

[CD]

This is a great service that Natural Standard has available! It is so convenient to be able to easily access natural products info when a patient asks you about it. It takes too much time to stop working, log onto a different computer screen, wait for the resources to become available and then wait for the info reply. How convenient this feature is for not only pharmacists, but all healthcare providers who, I'm sure, must be facing the increasing number of patients who are asking for more information on taking natural products! Since the use of natural products is definitely such a growing field, thank you Natural Standard for this great service!

[lacey]

It’s so key to keep up with the changing times and, boy, does this mean keeping up with technology! What a great idea to have Natural Standard as a resource at the palm of your hands. With more and more patients relying on alternative modalities for their health, it is important for health care professionals to have easy and quick access to the most up to date information. Other sites, such as Lexi-Comp and Epocrates, are limited to pharmacologic therapies, and having this particular resource would supplement our knowledge as future pharmacists, especially being able to use the interactions checker. Great move!

[M.M.]

I would not, by any means, call myself tech-savvy, but I can definitely see myself putting this to use. I use Natural Standard's monographs all the time in practice. I have to admit I'm very excited to be able to access this information on my iPhone, and I won't have to get to a computer in a busy hospital. This seems to be the new direction of accessing information for healthcare providers, and I'm really glad that Natural Standard has jumped on board. The interactions checker feature is going to be great to have at my fingertips.

[RebeccaJS]

Faster and easier ways to access Natural Standard will give healthcare providers (especially pharmacists) and healthcare students such a great advantage in finding great quality and evidence-based food/herbal/supplement monographs. I need this kind of information, and I want to be able to access it with no difficulty and with lots of convenience. This service will help me a great deal at my work-site!

[techy]

I hope the ease of access to Natural Standard resources causes healthcare providers to really utilize the handheld and desktop versions. The concern would be that, even though the service is free, subscribers may not remember that this is available to them simply due to practice habits. However, this service, if utilized the way it’s intended to be, will truly be a valuable and handy resource for health care professionals because it will allow point-of-care service to patients. As well, it will be a good tool for students to have on rotations, as many of the patients they see may ask them about complementary and alternative modalities.

[vitamine e]

I think this is really very good offer. It contains really useful data.Thank you very much for sharing this with us.

[KN]

Instead of downloading the newest game application on your iPhone, I would definitely recommend checking out Natural Standard for your PDA for those in healthcare or even consumers of natural health products. Having this service available wherever you go has been a huge resource for me, allowing me to scan my patients for interactions after getting a complete drug history list, including herbal remedies. I strongly encourage anyone that is interested in alternative therapies to take advantage of this. The interactions feature will definitely help those out shopping for herbal supplements.

[SJ]

The addition of Natural Standard to your handheld device or phone sounds like a great idea, but I’m curious about the interface. The Natural Standard Web site is quite easy to navigate, but how is this translated to a handheld device? I looked on the Web site and checked the Skyscape Web site, and there was not much information on how this platform looks or behaves on the handheld. I would like to see some screen shots of the handheld version. I think that would greatly help people out in being able to visualize the product before purchasing it. Based on Natural Standard’s reputation, I am sure the product is great, but I think screen shots of the product will be greatly beneficial.

[Ali]

How often is the handheld version of Natural Standard updated? I want to make sure I can access recent information if I need it.

[Wilbur]

Wow, this will be great addition for my PDA. I don't always have time or a computer available to go to Natural Standard's Web site to look up information on herb/supplement questions I receive from patients. This handheld version will be very useful, and the 15% off makes it even better.

[GS]

Ali brings up a great question. How often is the handheld version updated? Is it updated every month? Every time a new monograph is added? Every quarter? Annually? I think the product is an excellent idea, but it definitely would be nice to know how up-to-date this product stays? If it’s only updated once a year, a lot of new information can be missed. But if it’s updated frequently like the Web site, then I know this product will be excellent.

[lili]

I think having Natural Standard available for practitioners on their handheld devices is a great tool. There are so many times that questions get asked when they do not have access to a computer, so it is great to have the resources at their fingertips.

[jw]

The Skyscape Web site says that the information is updated monthly.

[IP]

After reading about this product, I decided to poke around the site to see if I could find any more information regarding the handheld version. JW is correct in that they say it’s updated on a monthly basis. Also, at the Skyscape Web site, you can actually view a demo of the handheld version for the various platforms, whether you are using PalmOS or an iPhone. The demo is basically just a few screen shots, but that’s what someone was asking about earlier. The interface looks pretty neat and simple, so I’m sure this product is pretty good.

[jenny]

I think Natural Standard could be a great resource to have on your handheld, especially for certain professions such as a pharmacist. Some patients will come in on different herbs and supplements that you’ve never even heard of and this way you can easily just go to your handheld and get all the information you need. One can look up a therapy and see if it’s even beneficial or shown to be effective for a desired indication, and it’s also a good reference to see if there are any interactions with any other medications a person may be on.

[SamJam]

This is a great offer and will especially benefit healthcare providers. As there are so many medications to learn about in school, sometimes insufficient emphasis is placed on non-conventional medication care, such as herbs, supplements, etc. This resource allows people to try the program and see whether or not it is beneficial, which I think is a great opportunity.

[TMP]

I think this is a great idea for all pharmacists to have. I work in retail pharmacy and often help patients in our natural foods department. The company offers a variety of herbal, homeopathy and dietary supplements. It would be great to have this at my fingertips. In the past if a patient asked me a question that required me to look up the information, it was time consuming. With Natural Standard in a handheld version, I can obtain the answer in minutes. This is a great idea, Natural Standard.

[TI]

With the popularity of complementary and alternative medicine, it is no surprise that Natural Standard subscribers are so excited about the new service Natural Standard has to offer. I only recently obtained version of Lexi-Comp on my Palm, and I can already see the benefits of having the information necessary to provide good service to our patients right in my pocket.

However, the Lexi-Comp database lacks the information on the majority of herbal and other alternative medicine products, despite the fact that the CAM section is one of the most visited in the today’s retail pharmacy. So I also find myself at a loss of words when asked about many of the products we carry. Having a Natural Standard product right next to the Lexi-Comp on my palm could be a great help to me and a huge benefit to our patients.