Frequently Asked Questions - Medscape for Android

Reference

  1. What is included in the Reference?
  2. How do I search the Reference by keyword?
  3. How do I browse the Reference by drug class or topic?
  4. How do I update my Reference to make sure that I have the latest drug and clinical information?
  5. What are the benefits of downloading the Clinical Reference? How do I do it?
  6. How can I add Drugs or Clinical Reference articles to my Saved list?

Interaction Checker

  1. How do I check for interactions between drugs, OTC drugs, and herbals?

News & CME

  1. How can I earn CME/CE credits?
  2. How can I read Medscape Education Articles from outside my Specialty?
  3. How can I read Medical News from outside my Specialty?
  4. How can I Save Medical News articles to read offline?

WebMD Health Directory

  1. How do I update or change a physician, pharmacy, or hospital listing in the Physician, Pharmacy, or Hospital Directory?

General

  1. How can I get updated versions of the Medscape app as they become available?
  2. How can I tell which version of the application & drug database I'm using?
  3. Which features require an Internet connection to use?
  4. How do I provide feedback on the application from my Android?

Reference

  1. What is included in the Reference?
  2. How do I search the Reference by keyword?
    1. Tap the Search Reference field that appears at the top of your screen.
    2. Start typing the name of any drug, OTC, herbal, or clinical reference topic.
    3. Medscape search uses type-ahead which means the results are refined with each character you type. The results that most closely match your search term will appear in the window below.
    4. Note: when searching on clinical reference articles, only the subjects of articles are searched not the content in the article itself.
    5. Hint: to hide the keyboard to see more results, select the Enter / Go button in the bottom right of the keyboard. To make the keyboard reappear, tap in the search field in the top.
    6. Tap any result in the main window in order to view its detailed information.
    7. Hint: below the search box you will see 4 ways to filter your search results: All, Drugs, Conditions, and Procedures. If you know that you are looking for a drug, for example, tap the Drugs button and only the matching drug results will be displayed.

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  1. How do I browse the Reference by drug class or topic?
    1. To browse drugs, tap the 'Reference' link on the Home screen. Next, tap the 'Drugs, OTCs, & Herbals' link on the Reference screen. This will present a view of the Drug Reference organized by logical classes of drugs. For example, drugs for treating neurological conditions are found under the class Neurology under which you will find neurological drugs broken out further e.g. drugs that treat Alzheimer Disease.
    2. Note: some drugs can be listed under more than one class.
    3. Note: all herbal and supplements are located under the top-level class Herbs & Supplements.
    4. To browse Clinical Reference topics, select either Disease & Conditions or Clinical Procedures from the Reference screen. You will find 2 - 3 levels of categories generally organized around body system, body part, and then disease and condition or procedure.

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  1. How do I update my Reference to make sure that I have the latest drug and clinical information?
    1. Updates are generally released on a monthly basis. You will be notified of an update when you launch the application. The updates will includes changes and/or additions to the Drug Reference as well as articles in the Clinical Reference. Updates take 2 - 20 minutes depending on their size and your Internet connection (Wi-Fi is recommended for the fastest install time). To stay up to date, Medscape recommends that you install each monthly update.
    2. If you skip the install at launch, you can manually check for updates at any time by tapping the More icon in the navigation bar at the bottom of your screen and then selecting Update Reference menu.
    3. Tap the Get Updates button in the main window.
    4. Follow the on-screen instructions in order to download and install the latest Reference updates.
    5. Note: all users will always get the drug reference updates. However, in order to receive any new and updated clinical reference articles, you must first download the clinical reference for offline use. If you do not choose to download the clinical reference, your Medscape application will always fetch the latest clinical reference article from the Internet. The benefit is that your clinical reference will be up to date but the downside is that you may not have access to the Internet at all times.

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  1. What are the benefits of downloading the Clinical Reference? How do I do it?
    1. Downloading the Clinical Reference allows you to access all articles without an Internet connection.
    2. To download the Clinical Reference, tap Data Updates in your Home screen's Options Menu. Next, tap Download Clinical Reference.
    3. Downloading the Clinical Reference takes about 8-10 minutes depending on connection speed. A Wi-Fi connection is highly recommended for this process.

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  1. How can I add Drugs, News, or Clinical Reference articles to my Saved list?
    1. The Saved list is a handy feature to get quick access to drug monographs, news, or clinical reference articles that you refer to frequently.
    2. You can add items to your saved list by tapping the 'Save' button in the options menu from any news article, drug, or clinical reference article.
    3. Saved items are easy to find by selecting the Saved link from your Home screen.
    4. To delete items from your Saved list, go to your Saved list and select the Delete button in the upper right and select which items you want to remove by tapping the red minus sign to the right of the item.

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Interaction Checker

  1. How do I check for interactions between drugs, OTC drugs, and herbals?
    1. You can check for interactions between up to 50 drugs and herbals. You can do this by going to the Interaction Checker directly or by selecting the 'Add to Interaction Checker' button that is at the bottom of any drug or herbal monograph.
    2. To use the Interaction Checker, tap the Interaction Checker link in your Home or Reference screen.
    3. Tap the search field that appears at the top of your screen.
    4. Start typing the name of any drug; notice that the drugs that most closely match your entry appear in the search results
    5. Tap any drug in the main window to add it to the interaction checker.
    6. To add additional drugs or herbals, tap the search button again.
    7. After each drug is added to the Interaction Checker, one of two messages will be displayed: 'No Interactions Found' or 'View Interactions Found'
    8. Tap the 'View Interactions Found' button to view details on the relevant drug interactions, which are grouped and sorted by severity.
    9. You can clear the Interaction Checker by selecting Clear in the options menu of the screen.

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News & Medscape Education

  1. How can I earn CME/CE credits?
    1. You can earn CME/CE credits on your Android and they are automatically tracked in your Medscape CME Tracker found on www.medscape.com.
    2. Tap the Medscape Education element in the Start screen.
    3. Tap the headline you wish to view.
    4. Note: Accessing Medscape Education articles requires an Internet connection. Opening a Medscape Education article can take a few seconds when not on Wi-Fi or 3G.
    5. Review the CME Information for the activity and select 'Continue to Activity'
    6. Read the article, take the CME Test included in the bottom of the article, and select 'Save and Proceed'
    7. Select the amount of time you spent on the activity and the associated credits, for example, you will earn 0.25 credits for 15 minutes.
    8. Complete the Activity Evaluation and select Save and Proceed. This will bring you to the Congratulations page indicating you've earned your credits.

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  1. How can I read Medscape Education Articles from outside my Specialty?
    1. By default, when you select the Medscape Education feature, Medscape displays headlines for the specialty you registered with for Medscape. You can easily view CME activities in other specialties.
    2. Tap the Medscape Education link from the Home screen.
    3. Tap the 'More CME' button in the options menu of the screen. This will bring up the available Specialties menu.
    4. Select the specialty for which you'd like to receive Medscape Education Article headlines.
    5. Note: it can take several seconds for any new Medscape Education headlines to download.


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  1. How can I read Medical News from outside my Specialty?
    1. By default, when you select the Medical News feature, Medscape displays headlines for the specialty you registered with for Medscape. You can easily view CME activities in other specialties.
    2. Tap the Medical News link from the Home screen.
    3. Tap the 'More News' button in the options menu of the screen. This will bring up the available Specialties menu.
    4. Select the specialty for which you'd like to receive Medical News Article headlines.
    5. Note: it can take several seconds for any new Medical News headlines to download.

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  1. How can I Save Medical News articles to read offline?
    1. Any Medical News article that you open is temporarily saved to your device cache so you view offline for a limited time e.g. for few days. This is helpful if you are going to be without Internet connectivity e.g. during a commute or flight and want. You can open up several articles for 'offline' reading. Opened articles are automatically deleted to make room for new articles you open and read. If you want to be sure that your article is not deleted and you want to make is quickly accessible, then use the Saved feature to add the article to your Saved list.
    2. Tap the Medical News link from the Home screen.
    3. Tap one of the Medical News headlines displayed to open it (Note: you must have an Internet connection). Medscape retrieves and displays the News article you've selected from the Internet.
    4. Tap the 'Save' button in the options menu to add the News article to your Saved list.
    5. Note: MedscapeCME articles are not saved to your article cache and you cannot save them to your Saved list for offline viewing.

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WebMD Health Directory

  1. How do I update or change a physician, pharmacy, or hospital listing in the Physician, Pharmacy, or Hospital Directory?

General

  1. How can I get updated versions of the Medscape app as they become available?
    1. Updates to the Medscape application can always be found on Medcape's screen the Android Marketplace.
    2. If you'd like to sign-up to be notified of all Application Updates, simply email a request to MedscapeMemberSupport@webmd.net
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  1. How can I tell which version of the application & drug database I'm using?
    1. Select the Update Reference icon from the options menu on the Home screen
    2. You will see the Application Version, Drug Reference Version (of your drug content) and the last date that you updated your drug database.

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  1. Which features require an Internet connection to use?
    1. Most features in the Medscape app are available without an Internet connection. Medscape Education and the WebMD Health Directory both require an Internet connection. Medical News also requires an Internet connection, however, you may open News articles while you have an Internet connection and they are saved to your device cache for a few days or you can add them to your Saved list for offline access.
    2. The Clinical Reference requires an Internet connection by default, however, each article that you open while you have an Internet connection is saved for future offline use. You can download the complete 4,000 article clinical reference for offline use by going to More > Update Reference > Download Clinical Reference. This will not download the pictures and videos (there are thousands) but will make the complete text available offline.

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  1. How do I provide feedback on the application from my Android?
    1. You can send any feature suggestion to the product team by sending an email to MedscapeMobileFeedback@webmd.net or any question to MedscapeMobileSupport@webmd.net.


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