When was the last time you sat down at a desktop computer to look something up? Chances are that when you need to quickly check a reference or look up an article, you turn to your smartphone or tablet for finding information quickly and on the go.
In today’s increasingly mobile world, physicians and medical professionals must be able to maximize efficiency without sacrificing quality of care in order to compete professionally. The savviest clinicians of today will increasingly turn to smartphone (or tablet) apps to increase their productivity in the workplace—use this guide to discover which apps can best benefit you in a clinical setting.
1. Epocrates
Available for iOS and Android. Epocrates provides clinicians with features designed to assist you in moments of care, all of which are easily accessible on a user-friendly dashboard. You can use Epocrates to review drug information and interactions, search for other practitioners, access research and medical news, and securely coordinate care with HIPAA-compliant SMS. Ranked the #1 medical app among physicians, Epocrates gets all of its information from the EHR so you can make the most informed decisions possible.
2. Medscape
Available for iOS, Android, and Kindle. Medscape is another great reference tool for clinicians, allowing you to quickly access medical calculators, disease pathology, procedure information, and medical news. It’s free to register and download, and Medscape even allows you to earn CME’S!
3. DynaMed
Available for iOS and Android. Created for physicians by physicians, DynaMed launched a new interface a few months ago that makes it the best point-of-care reference tool for accessing evidence-backed clinical information. This app is unique because of the way it looks at unbiased medical research from over 500 medical journals and analyzes it cohesively to provide information in an easy-to-read format along with graphics and recommendations.
4. Doximity
Available for iOS and Android. Many of our readers are likely already members of the Doximity community, which is the largest professional and social network for healthcare professionals exclusively. The Doximity app allows you to access your profile and network on the go, as well as providing free tools such as HIPAA-compliant electronic faxing.
5. Read by QxMD
Available for iOS, Android, and Windows. Read by QxMD allows you to consolidate all your medical literature and journals in one place. Their impressive database is owned by the US National Library of Medicine and is constantly being updated with new studies, research, and articles. Browse through thousands of medical topics, download full-text PDFs, and stay up-to-date on the latest research in your field with this app.
6. Visual DX
Available for iOS and Android. Visual DX is a diagnostic decision support tool that has been recognized by over 1500 large hospitals and clinics, including UCLA, Harvard Medical School, and the VA healthcare system. You can use their app to access an extensive database of diagnoses and medical images so that you can make more accurate diagnoses across all stages of a disease and even provide visual patient education. Visual DX offers a free trial subscription.
7. Calculate by QxMD
Available for iOS, Android and Windows. Another reference tool brought to you by QxMD, this medical calculator is easy to use and allows you to search for calculators by specialty. Calculate has more than 200 unique calculators and translates recent research into practical reference tools so that you can save time during patient care and be more confident in your medical decisions.
8. iAnnotate PDF
Available on iOS and Android. iAnnotate is a must-have app for any healthcare professionals who owns a tablet. Read and annotate documents, mark up images, take notes on slides, and upload all your documents onto the Cloud for easy access.
9. Evernote
Available on iOS, Android, and Windows. Evernote is used by over 100 million people—the app helps you easily organize your entire life in one place. You can create tasks and make text or audio notes that are stored in separate notebooks and stacks. Use the tag feature to search for all notes related to a specific category. Evernote constantly syncs itself and stores information on the Cloud so you don’t need to worry about losing anything!
10. Headspace
Available on iOS, Android, and Kindle. Doctor burnout is an increasingly hot topic in medical communities, as healthcare professionals must cope with extremely high levels of stress on a daily basis. There are thousands of studies that suggest daily meditation to help with psychological stress and improved well-being. Avoid feelings of mental/emotional exhaustion and provide better care for your patients by practicing guided meditation for 10 minutes a day with the free Headspace app.
