I started talking about the apps I had found useful in clerkship here. I still use Diagnosaurus, 5 Minute Clinical Consult and Dr. Drugs quite a bit. I also use a bunch more. I'll be the first to admit I have a ridiculous number of apps.
Wards: Patient Tracker: this is a program that lets you put the pts name, chief complaint, tests ordered and plans for discharge into your phone. It takes a bit of time to get everyone in which was a real deterrent from bothering to use it on surgery, but I did use it on medicine and found it helpful. I was walking around with lists of patient names with info scribbled under their names, updating from the previous day every day, trying not to lose a sheet and get attacked by the privacy police. (Speaking of the privacy police, there is a password requirement to enter and get the information.)
When the app first came out, you were restricted to the consults/tests in the bank. Now you can put your own in so that it becomes customized to the service.
It's great for following patients through their hospital stay and doing discharge summaries at the end since you've highlighted the big points while there were in hospital - if you take the time to enter the info. Really, time is the only drawback to this system.
P: C$4.99
Shozu: Lets you keep up with your blog between cases/in moments of serenity so your family and friends know you are alive. Easy enough to use. Doesn't let you type in landscape mode though which is a huge drawback.
P: C$4.99
Calculate (Medical Calculator) by QxMD: This really is the only calculator you'll need. And it's free. Just get it.
If you want more convincing, you can customize it to the rotation you're on or keep it at the general practitioner mode to have all calculations quickly available. It's not just fun with numbers like figuring out the anion gap, there's also check lists like the Ottawa Ankle Rules, Pediatric Glasgow Coma Scale and risk of relapse into heavy drinking.
It takes a little while to get used to all the options available to you and remembering to access them when you need them.
P: FREE!
Cardio, Heme, GI, Neph Calculators: These are all done by the MedQx guys. Just get the calculator above to have everything in one app, no redundancies.
Hospital Codebook/Phonebook: Your contacts list is a better way to handle this information. Not a useful app.
P: C$.99
A2Z of Dermatology: I'm on the fence about this app. If you already know the name of the dermatological feature you're looking for, you're away to the races. If not, it can be a bit of a long haul trying to figure out what the rash is that you're looking at. I'd prefer to see this as an algorhythm type app - like a derm calculator "what colour is the lesion" "is it elevated"...you have melanoma! Ah, maybe that's why, too much like diagnosing your own illness. But I digress.
The app lists the lesions in alphabetical order by their commonly known name. It gives you a photo and a description of what the lesion is, what may have caused it and often a treatment. There is usually a link through to Google images for other examples of the lesion, which is helpful.
But, not really worth the dough. Use google yourself for this.
P: C$3.99
more soon...
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