Last November, MobiHealthNews compiled a list of Apple’s top apps for doctors, nurses, and patients. Since then, Apple has added some new apps to its list and taken off many others.
In September 2011, Apple added a new section to its AppStore for healthcare professionals that included about 50 apps designed for iPad and iPhone users. A little more than a year later the section was slightly reworked: Apple added a new subsection for nurses, changed the name of its “point of care” section to “patient education” and added a few new apps to most of the existing subsections. Apple now recommends 118 apps for healthcare professionals.
In the pages to follow is MobiHealthNews’ guide to Apple’s list along with a few screenshots and a short description. Skip ahead to app categories using these links: Reference Apps; Medical Education Apps; EMR & Patient Monitoring Apps; Nursing Apps; Imaging Apps; Patient Education Apps; Personal Care Apps.
Reference Apps
Our definition: Medical reference apps provide information about medications, diseases, conditions, and other medical topics.
Most reference apps haven't changed since the last roundup. No apps have been removed, and the only new apps on the list are Echocardiography Atlas by Epocrates and Read by QxMD.
NEJM This Week/NEJM iPad Edition
"The latest medical research findings, review articles, and editorial opinion on a wide variety of topics of importance to biomedical science and clinical practice, from The New England Journal of Medicine."
Medscape
"WebMD’s physician app had the distinction of being the most downloaded free medical app of 2010. It includes a drug interaction checker, procedure reference, and daily medical news updates."
Epocrates
"Healthcare professionals worldwide use Epocrates routinely to review drug prescribing and safety information for thousands of brand, generic and OTC drugs and checks for potentially harmful drug to drug interactions among up to 30 drugs at a time." In May, Manhattan Research found that Epocrates was the most popular app for physicians, used by half the doctors the firm surveyed.
Echocardiography Atlas by Epocrates
"View examples of normal and abnormal echocardiograms, access 250 annotated images and 189 videos, zoom and pan echocardiograms and search for specific diseases."
Micromedex Drug Information
"Drug Information is a free resource for on-the-go access to clinical drug reference information. An internet connection is not required to access the information."
The Merck Manual - Professional Edition
"The Merck Manual’s iOS app is a digital version of its reference text. Users can browse the app by section and by symptom, and the app automatically logs what sections users have read."
Doximity
Doximity, the medical communications platform headed up by Epocrates co-founder Jeff Tangney, "offers a HIPAA-secure medical directory and communication tool that includes 180,000 doctors already in the network."
LabGear Medical lab reference guide
"Medical lab reference app LabGear is a pocket tool for medical laboratory tests and now includes integration with MedCalc."
