ABSTRACT
<b>Objective: </b>The hospital is changing its formulary reference from paper-based to intranet. There was concern that both paper-based and intranet versions of the formulary would be necessary. Revising the paper-based hospital formulary each time package inserts are revised is difficult. For your review we report on the creation of the iPhone® electronic formulary which enables rapid off-line formulary retrieval and easy updates while at the same time providing low cost service in a light device.<br><b>Methods: </b>The CSV (Comma Separated Value) of the hospital formulary dictionary was made using a standard personal computer. The CSV data file was converted using JAMES2DIC into a HTML file format. Next, the converted HTML file is transformed into the EPWING (Electronic Publishing WING) format using EBStudio. Finally, we forward the EPWING dictionary file from the personal computer to the iPhone®. The retrieval becomes possible by using EBPocket for iOS of EPWING/electronic book viewer software for the iPhone®. The number of items was assumed to be 29 items thought for a lot of inquiries to exist.<br><b>Results: </b>We compared the paper-based formulary with the iPhone® electronic formulary. As a result, the iPhone4® electronic formulary shortened the retrieval time, was smaller, lighter, and excellent at a lower price.<br><b>Conclusion: </b>The iPhone4® electronic formulary enables the user to perform complex full-text searches and retrieve information at a much higher speed than is possible with paper based formularies. It has the additional advantage of seamless integration and deployment of formulary additions or reference material revisions. We believe we have successfully created a practical electronic formulary.