The new access avenue aims to enable physicians to use a wireless personal digital assistant (PDA), BlackBerry or smartphone to remotely access health information resources in real-time from the site.
The announcement comes as a 2004 Manhattan Research survey reported that 43% of physicians see the internet as essential to their practice and 40% currently use PDAs or handheld technology.
Registered users of MerckMedicus.com will be able to use their wireless handheld device to connect to the site in their browser, and then sign in to access resources such as The Merck Manual of Diagnosis and Therapy, 17th Edition; Pocket Guide to Diagnostic Tests; Medline journal abstracts; and Reuters Medical News.
The offering also includes a Personal Search Assistant feature, which allows physicians to search through the current issues of more than 200 journals in addition to the selected wireless offerings available. The Medline journals and Reuters Medical News can be tailored to physician-preferred choices, specialty or therapeutic area of interest.
The wireless option is compatible with all cellular phones with web-browsing capabilities, smartphones and other handheld devices that use Windows Mobile-based Pocket PC, Blackberry or Palm OS operating systems.
Merck added that it is planning to add more unique features optimized for wireless in the near future.