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More iPhone/iPod Med App Madness PDF Print E-mail
News - Class News
Monday, 27 July 2009 18:43

The applications that follow could be considered "second tier," in that they're nice to have and probably have their niche, but you could still be a perfectly happy clinician without any of them.  That being said, you might find one of these that you fall in love with and use it more than any of the "Big Four" that were discussed before.  I'd recommend that with any of the free apps, you download it, try it for a while and if you don't like it move it to the back pages of your applications or just delete it.  The paid apps are a bit more of a leap of faith, although hopefully these descriptions as well as the ratings found on iTunes and other sources will help you make up your mind. 

 


 The ECG Guide
 $4.99

This will probably be the most expensive app I'm going to list.  Five dollars is actually a pretty good deal for what you get though.  The ECG Guide tries to make itself out as a teaching resource, and in that regard it's decent, but not great.  What it's very good as is a reference guide for rhythms and ECG interpretation.  Over 200 sample ECGs are included, most of them being 12-lead.  You can zoom in on the samples and analyze, in very high quality, each lead and also get explanations as to etiology and what to look for in different pathologies.  There is also a quiz function that gives you a 12-lead and you have to decide what you're looking at.  The ECG Guide is good for studying but great as a reference source.


 
 Eponyms
 Free

We're bound to run into eponyms on rounds.  "Older" clinicians are probably using names for diseases that we've never heard.  Eponyms can help with that.  It has over 1600 eponyms that are easily searched and gives fairly thorough definitions.  So, if you don't know what a "Dieulafoy lesion" or "Pringle maneuver" is, you'll have a quick and easy place to find out.



 Flashlight
 Free

Flashlight is not going to help you on Shelf Exams and it's not going to give you any easy answers when questioned by your attending.  What it will do is turn your iPhone or iPod into a make-shift flashlight.  So, if it's 3 AM and you're wanting to sneak in and out of a patient's room to check on a few things without having to turn on the lights and probably wake them up, this might help.  I'm sure there are plenty of out-of-the-clinic uses for this one as well.



 iFlipr Flashcards
 $4.99

This is an application that you're probably only going to get value from if you're willing to put in some effort.  iFlipr allows you to make your own flashcards that you can quiz yourself with.  There are also a large number of user-made flashcard sets that cover all the topics we're going to see in the coming years.  Some of the sets are great, some really aren't, and if you make your own they're as good as you want them to be.  The flashcards are made on the iFlipr website and then downloaded to your device.  A "lite" version is available for free if you want to just try it out.



 iMurmur
 $0.99

For a buck, this app is pretty sweet.  It has over 20 of the most common heart murmurs and sounds that you can listen to and also view in graphic form.  You can then quiz yourself by being presented with a heart sound and having to determine what you're hearing.  Make sure to use headphones if you decide to get this.  Using the built-in speaker just doesn't cut it.



 Medical Abbreviations
 $0.99

Much like Eponyms, this is a good reference guide.  If you see an abbreviation on a chart or while reading, this app can be used to decipher it.  There are over 8,000 abbreviations defined, so I'd hope that if it's being used out there, you'll find it here.



 Medscape
 Free

This application just came out and is already pretty popular.  Like Epocrates, it comes with a pretty robust drug reference guide.  It also comes with specialty-specific news and even CME sources.  I've yet to try it, and I'm not sure if it's going to be any better than anything out there, but it's free and probably worth a try.  It also includes a pretty large doctor and pharmacy database that could in some situations come in handy, I suppose.



 PEPID
 Free

Yet another drug reference guide.  Some people swear by it.  I guess it's a matter of opinion.  Just like some of the other "free" apps, PEPID is a watered-down version of the full "PEPID Platinum" program.  Unlike Epocrates and the other mentioned drug references, PEPID has a good collection of antidotes and toxicology information, including poisonous plants.  It also throws in some medical calculations and images.



 Units
 Free

Units is a conversion tool.  You can convert metric to imperial or whatever other units you want.  Quick, easy, simple and free.



 Wikipanion
 Free

Wikipedia is the unofficial textbook/reference manual for a lot of us.  You can always use the built-in browser (Safari) to get to Wikipedia, but Wikipanion makes it a little easier.  It gives you an easy way to search Wikipedia and also displays it in a form that is formatted for the iPhone/iPod.  There's a "Plus" version that's five dollars but I have no idea what extras you get with it or why they'd even be needed.

 
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