As a clinical clerk, I simply cannot live without these apps on my iPhone. They make my clerkship a lot easier! All of these apps can be downloaded from Itunes. If you’re a new Iphone owner don’t be overwhelmed and download everything at once. The apps here are a mixture of paid apps and free apps. Try downloading the free versions of the paid apps and see if what I recommend works for you.
Medical information
#0.) The first app the starting medical student should get is “Case History & Physical Exam: Pocket Guide for Medical History and Physical Examination Support.” It’s NOT FREE but it helps you gain confidence as you begin to take patients medical histories. As for me, I mostly use it for quick reminders on Cranial Nerve exams and the Glasgow coma scale. There is a FREE VERSION (also by the same author. )
#1.) Medscape is the most useful app for Medical information. It’s FREE, doesn’t need to connect to the internet for you to be able to use it and it has both drugs and medical information. Very handy! Plus its developers add new entries and articles to it every month! I mostly use this app to get a quick overview about a disease. The articles are a bit too concise and short on information but if you’re pressed for time medscape can really help you out.
#2.) Merck Manual costs $29.99 but has a lot of detailed information that Medscape doesn’t have. I use the Merck Manual whenever I find Medscape to be lacking the info that I need. The only problem with this app is beside the fact that it’s not free, the articles are quite few compared to Medscape. This app is still a must-have.
#3.) Nurse’s Pocket Drug Guide
This App lists 1,000 common medications! It’s not FREE. I mostly use this when there is no internet access or when I’m pressed for time.
If you have constant internet access bookmark http://mims.com instead. Mims.com has all the drugs you need and it’s FREE.
#4.)MedCalc is a FREE app that has a lot of medical formulas. This APP is a must have.
#5.) MyPatients is the app that i use to keep track of my patients. It’s not free, it has some bugs but I find that it fits my needs. You can take 5 pictures and associate them with a single patient. You can write notes about your patients and sort them into categories. It’s got a lot of bugs but once you’ve figured a way to work around this app’s problems you’ll find that it’s quite useful. (NOTE) I recently updated to version 1.5 (the current version on Itunes as of september 2,2010) and It seems a lot of the bugs and gripes I had are gone.
For Note taking and for reminders
#1.) Stick it lets you put a sticky note on top of your iphone’s lock screen wall paper or background. With just one glance you can see the stuff that you have to do instead of unlocking your iphone and opening up your reminders app. It also comes with free wallpapers (requires internet access) that you can use to spruce up your lock screen wall paper and background. Stick it just costs $0.99 but you can also try out the FREE version..
#2.) Evernote is FREE and is perfect for taking notes about everything!
Interested in learning medical Spanish terms to assist with Spanish-speaking patients? Polyglot Med Spanish is an iPhone/iPad mobile app that has both Spanish and English audio recorded medical phrases. It is intended to bridge communication gaps between health care providers and Spanish speaking patients.
Download this app (free until April 7th!) here: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/polyglot-med-spanish/id421199869