UpToDate is just that: a resource of practical medical knowledge that is updated frequently by experts.

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The popularity of UpToDate offers a window into how physicians currently view and value information.

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Consider the application UpToDate, an expensive subscription database and the go-to source for current medical information.

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Fundamentally, UpToDate is an electronic textbook, incorporating a minimal amount of technology that enables rapid cross-referencing and frequent online updates.

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Two of the more widely-used resources are UpToDate and eMedicine.

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Significantly, UpToDate generally offers not just a summary of recommendations but also an explanation of the associated physiology and a review of relevant clinical studies.

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Read UpToDate, and you might assume that the drug would be utilized only in highly specialized situations, and would consequently achieve marginal sales at best, essentially as a niche product.

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While this particular rationale for a therapeutic choice may be idiosyncratic, factors such as ease of explanation and likelihood of being hassled play a surprisingly large role in physician decision making, even if absent from traditional guidelines such as UpToDate.

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Industry critics will pounce on this contradiction as offering evidence of the unhealthy impact of pharma marketing, while proponents might highlight the benefit realized by patients and argue that most medical guidelines, including those articulated in UpToDate, are scripted by self-righteous academic elitists who reflexively shun both novelty and industry.

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