Rather than just a fun gadget, the smart phone and its medical apps have become an important tool for the health professional of today. According to a recent review in the journal Clinical Infectious Diseases, “Modern technology has revolutionized the clinician’s ability to have vast information resources available literally at one’s fingertips. The advent of the smartphone-an integration of the mobile phone with an ultraportable computer, web browser, multimedia player, and camera, has given clinicians the capability to merge their information and communication resources into one compact handheld instrument.”

Another review article in Healthcare Informatics predicts the future of medical apps: “Many innovative organizations are looking to provide access to electronic records and other clinical data through smartphones. Plans are already being formulated to leverage the devices to facilitate patient handoff and sign-out, as well as to link charge capture with quality measures. Cutting-edge organizations are looking to create actionable information for clinicians through software that can analyze data, track patients’ progress, and send out alerts when conditions worsen.”

We have compiled a list of some of our favorite medical apps. The list is relatively short compared to what is available.

Check a Box. Save a Life – Cost: Free, features the WHO Surgical Safety Checklist to ensure patient safety care. Also includes some medical procedures including central lines. A must have for the medical student.

Distractor Avoidance – Cost .99, can improve test scores by teaching the user to avoid DISTRACTORS which are the most commonly chosen answers and unfortunately are usually the wrong answers. Probably worth it if you pass your boards!

Doctot Geriatric – Cost: .99, evaluates and tracks geriatric patients by utilizing the Abbreviated Mental Test Score (MTS), Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS). Barthel ADL Rating Scale (Barthel),Elderly Mobility Scale (EMS) and the BERG Scale (BERG).

Drug Trials – Cost: Free, the health professional who is also involved in clinical trials will find this useful. It is supposed to be as good or even better than Clinical Trials. A nifty feature is a google map option that shows the clinical trial sites.

Epocrates – Cost: The annual subscription rates range from 0 to 9 a year, was supposedly the first app developed for the iPhone and is one of the most popular med apps among health professionals. Epocrates comes in 3 versions with different subscription rates and there is free version called Epocrates Rx. Epocrates contains expected features such as info on diseases, drug info, drug prices, possible drug interactions, lab tests and alternative medicine. Special features are the MedMath for dosing calculator, ICD-billing codes, and Pill Identifier. A medical professional reviewer gives Epocrates a plus for its comprehensiveness and up-date reliable medical info which is in collaboration with the British Medical Journal.

Eponyms- Cost: Free, brings a short description of more than 1’700 common and obscure medical eponyms (e.g., Rovsing’s sign, Virchow’s node) to your iPhone or iPod touch. A perfect tool to quickly look up the meaning of any eponym.

e-Val MD- Cost: .99, a recent review by the iPhone App Review states “It’s almost difficult to fathom how this nifty application works without first experiencing it yourself. It’s simple touch-screen interface provides the portal to a world of important information that has never before been so readily accessible at the tip of one’s finger. e-Val MD allows you to create, access, manage, and export unlimited numbers of patient records using its fully-functional history and physical examination modules”.

Instant ECG – Cost: .99, is an electrocardiogram rhythms interpretation guide. It features almost 100 high resolution ECG examples, as well as 30 high-definition full screen movies (without audio) of the most common arrhythmias; reference Netter images of the heart, its blood supply, MI correlation to the ECG, and myocardial action potential.

iChart – Cost: 9.99, specifically developed as a digital medical assistant to manage patient records. iChart automates medical tasks and allows quick access to medical information, anytime, anywhere. The iChart intuitive medical record suite is comprised of several integrated modules, including: iPrescribing, iBilling, iLab reports and iNotes.

iRadiology – Cost: Free, is designed to teach radiology and has more than 500 radiology cases to help medical imaging reading skills. Images include plain films, CT scans and MRIs. The cases are derived from Dr. Gillian Lieberman, who is the currently Director of Harvard Medical Student training and Associate Director of the Residency Program at Beth Israel Medical Center.

MedCalc – Cost: Free, is a free medical calculator, that gives you easy access to a wide array of medical formulas, scores and classifications.

MedCodes- Cost: .99, is the complete medical database of the ICD-9, CPT, and HCPCS codes from the AMA for all medical specialties.

MedicalRadio – Cost: Free, delivers world class medical content directly from ReachMD, the leader in medical education and information for medical professionals.

medpage TODAY Mobile – Cost: Free, is the phone app from the popular MedPage Today site. With the theme “Putting Breaking Medical News Into Practice”, the app makes medical news and articles accessible for the doctor on the road. It is even possible to earn your CME credits.

Medscape Mobile – Cost: Free, the latest version of Medscape apps seems to be at par or may even surpass Epocrates. Most notably, the new Diseases and Conditions and the Clinical Procedures sections seem to be a big hit.

NeuroMind- Cost: Free, offers neurosurgical differential diagnosis (text & mindmap), clinical scores, and the WHO Safe Surgery checklist.

Pedi Meds – Cost: .99, is a handy app featuring pediatric doses at your fingertips.

STAT Framingham Heart Age – Cost: Free, the well-known Framingham scale is the ultimate tool for doctors to calculate cardiovascular risks and helps them do the job quicker. A not-so-ideal feature are the ads that come with the app.

For more apps check out iphonemedicalapps.com. Here’s to A Healthier World!