Thursday, January 13, 2011

Need your help! Favorite medical apps

So, I volunteered to give a talk for the UCSF Office of Graduate Medical Education WAAAAY back in early 2010 on "There’s an App for That:  Key Smart Phone Applications for Surviving Residency". Somehow the lecture date has snuck up on me and it's next Tuesday! I thought it was a small gathering, but it turns out it's not. Plus, I keep getting school-wide emails reminding all the residents and fellows to attending!

In a mild panic, I'm asking for the collective group's help.

Audience: Medical students, residents, fellows across all specialties
Time allotted: 1 hour

Here's my brainstorming list of the best FREE apps. Remember, these apps should be useful not JUST for Emergency Medicine.

  • Evernote 
  • Dropbox
  • Epocrates
  • New England Journal of Medicine app (weekly podcast, images, videos)
  • Eye Handbook
  • Eye Chart
  • Not really an app, but the camera feature can be useful in many scenarios. For instance, photograph and email a series of EKGs to the Cardiology fellow for a possible STEMI case. Or, take pictures of an intoxicated patient's massive facial laceration to prove that there is INDEED a large gash extending across the entire forehead.
Other apps worth purchasing:
  • Papers
  • PediStat
Anything others that you can suggest? I'm happy to give you credit for those that I mention in the talk. 

Clip to Evernote
Posted by
Labels: , , , ,

25 comments:

  1. The medscape free app is great. No internet needed. Basically emedicine in your pocket. Eponyms and medical calc are also very useful. Ecg guide or instant ecg. Also there is a series of procedures apps from medmeister (I only have the LP and Subclavian lines) which are good reviews for students/ residents or if it's been a while. Good luck

    ReplyDelete

  2. - MedCalc (free), Mediquations (paid) are the best calculators!
    - DDx (Differential diagnosis by BMJ Group) is an very cool app, especially for students! I think it gets too little attention.
    - iRadiology, great stuff and free
    - AHRQ ePSS (Electronic Preventive Services Selector (ePSS) Tool for Primary Care Clinicians) tells you exactly what to do for prevention in a given patient (not really EM though!)
    - procedure consult for iphone (for med students, expensive but very good content. might be worth a shot)
    - slowmo (to take slow motion videos of eye movements, see emcrit, or anything happening too fast)
    - feedly (get your feeds on you iphone, very handy for short breaks)

    And of course THE best app: to stay organized and to be used as a peripheral brain: evernote

    cheers

    ReplyDelete

  3. For addtional help see the excellent site iMedicalApps:

    http://www.imedicalapps.com/

    ReplyDelete

  4. Podcasts: EM-CRIT, ERCAST, EM-RAP:EE (Educator's Edition), EM-RAP (paid), Annals of Emergency Medicine (journal summary)

    Apps: GeniusScan (takes the camera pictures of x-rays, EKG's etc and helps you remove the skew if you can get it right-straight on), iBooks or Kindle app (mail PDF's to yourself and now read them on your phone)

    ReplyDelete

  5. I agree with many of those listed above. Other programs I love include:
    reQall - a great todo program
    SimpleNote - quick notes / sync'd
    Lexicomp - library subscription required
    VisualDx - library subscription required

    Monthly Prescribing Reference (MPR) - http://goo.gl/SO6qH (industry supported)

    ReplyDelete

  6. Michelle-Agree with the above. There are a couple of apps that have saved my skin more than once:
    RSI by Marketwall. Not free, it's 4.99, but especially when I was a junior resident it made it easy to learn the intubation doses. There's another 2.99 version.

    Also a free app called CPR Drugs does the same thing for code drug doses. Invaluable to the young still boot quaking junior.

    There is a free online service called spaced Ed that delivers one or two free questions, including PEER VII content, to your email inbox daily. Just a little taste of questions, daily. Easy to keep on top of.

    ReplyDelete

  7. Warfarin
    WellAdult and AHRQ ePSS - USPSTF guidelines
    ECG Interpreter
    ACLS Advisor
    ECG guide
    Netter's Anatomy
    Joslin Chest
    MedCalc
    Acid Plus
    DxSaurus
    Acid Plus
    My favorite - LexiComp. I bought the bundle with Harrison's Medicine. $$$ but well worth the money. It's easier than trying to login to a computer

    ReplyDelete

  8. "Stroke Track" - Impressive NIH stroke scale calculator
    "Audio - Medical Spanish"
    Flaslight app (bunch of free ones) - More for disaster preparedness in case the power goes out
    Metronome (bunch of free ones) - Get it so you can do CPR at the recommended 100/ minute
    Compass (standard on 3GS) - I know this is kind of a bizarre one to suggest but while I've been in the windowless ED I've had patients of Islamic heritage ask to face North-East for ritual prayer (Salah), and the compass was handy in figuring out what direction that was

    ReplyDelete

  9. Agree with above and here are a couple of additions.

    There's an app I love called Tap The Beat, originally for musicians to tap our tempos I use it to check chest compression rates during training and clinical care.

    Dragon dictation is a a great way to send a quick txt, email or twitter post without typing.

    I use the VLC Media Player app to show procedure video for teaching.

    Now that Skype for iPhone has video chatting over 3G, telemedicine is easier than ever (this is more theoretical).

    Finally, Genius Scan- a camera based PDF producer that helps us turn in and save receipts (a task that used to consume 1-2 days post conference travel now can be accomplished on the plane home.

    Looks like you'll have plenty to work with!

    Demian

    ReplyDelete

  10. here're my suggestions, i hope i dont double too much:
    # Mediquations (great 4$ calculator of every formula imaginable - has great favourite funct. to simply access UR most useful ones)
    # UrgentCare ; sort of compedium on EM - few words/sentences on every condition/dzs
    #PediSTAT; Broselow-style charts for everything like Broselow and much more - quick&easy to use
    # WikiEM ; selection of Wiki-style quick&short themes; FREE
    # Papers - great with Mac
    # Lytes - super quick & intuitive points on 'lytes disorers
    # AcidPlus; punch in ABG and it interprets it & gives DDx
    # LabValues
    # OrthoTrauma
    # AirSharing - turns your iPhone into "USB(wireles)key"
    # AF Guide
    # ECG Guide
    # DDX by BMJ
    # Mnemonics; get and add new ones
    # Eponyms
    # 10 sec EM - quicky
    # SonoAccess - offical EUS App by SonoSite
    # Ultrasound
    # ICU Pearls - quick pearls
    # GasGuide - anasthesia quickly
    # CHEST App

    PODCASTS:
    #1 EMCast
    #2 EMedHome (subs. 80$/y)
    #3 EMC/EM Cases - probably most in-depth, serious, and truly professional!!!
    #4 EM:RAP Educator'sEd - a must for anyone into Edu.
    #5 SMART EM - another in-depth, thought-provocing
    #6 ERCAST - a good one

    BLOGS & EduSites
    LIfe in the Fast Lane
    EMCoreContent (by M. Herbert)

    thx for Your great work w/ blog, Gregor, EM resident/Slovenia

    ReplyDelete

  11. EM Ultrasound - a great comprehensive app that walks you through all the EM exams, with videos of normals and abnormals. Some voiceovers of lessons. Updated frequently. Not free, but probably the best pocket ultrasound resource out there I think.

    ReplyDelete

  12. A lot of my favorites have already been mentioned. I'll add Perfect Wheel (a really nicely done OB wheel) and the Micromedex drug app (contains more info than Epocrates or Medscape).

    ReplyDelete

  13. Massachusetts General Hospital put out a cool app called findER. It's mostly intended for patients to get directions to the nearest ER, but it's also very handy if you are looking for potential jobs and want to take a look at ED density in the region around a hospital.

    ReplyDelete

  14. Wow, everyone! I just woke up from my post-night shift sleep to this amazing list of apps. Just an illustration of the power "crowd-sourcing". These are all fantastic suggestions.

    Also, pasting Joel's suggestions from the general Chatbox area in the right column:

    Ruler app can be handy for measuring lesions and lacerations. Whiteboard can be great for doodling explanations for patients and med students (instead of on the bedsheets). Acid Plus is a nice litte app. Micromedex is an excellent drug resource. Converter is a very handy app

    ReplyDelete

  15. Would be nice to list which are android and which are iphone. But that is being picky :)

    ReplyDelete

  16. I think this is an excellent point. When I create the final master list for my talk, I'll be designating which platforms they work for. It's important. Androids are giving iPhones/iTouches a run for their money.

    ReplyDelete

  17. Hey Just Started Reading your Blog and really love it, great work! I know that it costs money around 15 bones, but the EMRA antibiotic App is probably one of the most useful App's on the market. I use it a couple of times each shift.

    ReplyDelete

  18. Invite you to check out Blausen Human Atlas, a quick reference for point of care education to explain medical conditions to patients available in 12 languages.

    ReplyDelete

  19. ePocrates
    Medscape
    Eponyms
    "The Wheel" (or any OB wheel")
    MedCalc
    Dropbox
    NerveWhiz
    MicroMedex

    ReplyDelete

  20. Wow, more apps! I hesitate about recommending apps which AREN'T free without buying them and testing them out myself. Sounds like I'll need to start purchasing a couple, based on everyone's recommendations!

    ReplyDelete

  21. emedhome.com, including Amal Mattu's EMCast, is terrific on the iphone/ipad. It is great to kill some dead time watching video lectures and learning.

    ReplyDelete

  22. Excellent point, Jason. Emedhome is definitely a worthwhile subscription to purchase (I don't have any financial ties with them.)

    ReplyDelete

  23. If I might be allowed to plug my own app in here: Rx-Bayes is currently on the iOS platform (to be ported to Android soon) that allows the physician to apply Bayesian probability to diagnostic decision making. It comes with a database of sensitivities and specificities of different tests and calculates your post-test probabilities of different disease.

    ReplyDelete

  24. Hi Atif: Thanks for letting us know about your app. Great idea! Looks like it's listed for $0.99.

    ReplyDelete

  25. dropbox and eye chart is what i normally use. skype related apps is also what i always wanted.

    ReplyDelete

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)