Medical Applications in the iTunes App Store for the iPhone and iPod Touch
Saturday, December 06, 2008
Joshua Schwimmer, MD, FACP, FASN
As of this writing, there are are over 100 medical applications for the iPhone and the iPod Touch in the iTunes App Store. (The link is here.) Less than six months ago, as the store was launched, I tried to guess what applications might become available. Let's revisit that list to see which apps have been released so far. (This is not meant to be an exhaustive list of applications, and please feel free to leave comments if the holes in my knowledge are obvious.)
- Drug database: Epocrates Rx is currently the most popular medical application for the iPhone. Several other drug databases are also available.
- Anatomical atlas: Netter's Anatomy Flash Cards is based on Netter's Atlas of Human Anatomy.
- Medical calculator: There are at least five. The most popular is Medical Calculator, which is free.
- Interface for electronic health records: There are several. iChart EMR is the most popular, for $139.99.
- Viewer of radiologic images: OsiriX, an open source program, is a DICOM image viewer. It's $19.99
- Interface for laboratory results: To my knowledge, there is no interface yet for viewing labs from companies like Quest and Bioreference.
- An expert system to help with differential diagnoses: A cursory review of the avvailable applications shows no expert system for differential diagnoses (which I'll definine as a program that produces differential diagnoses for a list of signs and symptoms).
- Messaging system for laboratory alerts and hospital pages: While there are no programs, to my knowledge, specifically for this purpose, many hospitals offer communication by SMS.
- Interface for medical devices (like ultrasounds and EKG machines): No programs are yet available.
- Dictation recorder: A search of [iphone AND dictation] reveals several apps, such as Voxie, and others which have yet to be released. I don't have personal experience with any of these programs.
- Device for electronic prescribing: No programs yet available, to my knowledge.
- Device for directly receiving and reading medical journals and podcasts: While there are many PDF readers for the iPhone, I haven't seen a program that automatically downloads medical journals (as is available for the Palm platform). Medical podcasts can now be downloaded directly to the phone.
- Medical book reader: Lexi-COMPLETE offers several medical books for the iPhone.
- Reminder system for patient visits and meetings synced remotely with the office through Mobile Me: Again, not yet available.
- Display for patient education videos: I've written previously about using YouTube as a source for patient education videos, but to my knowledge, applications specifically made for this purpose are not available.
- Medical simulator (ACLS, for example): While I know of no simulators, an ACLS reference is available for $4.99.
- Telemedicine device (pending the eventual release of iChat and a videoconferencing system): Not, to my knowledge, yet available.
- Interface for medical literature searches (Pubmed, Google Scholar): PubSearch is an interface for PubMed, and it costs all of $0.99.
- Word processing device for papers (I'm still waiting for a bluetooth keyboard): Several substitutes for Apple's built-in Notes application are available, but no bluetooth keyboard yet.
- Communication device for hospital teams (Using Twitter or another system): I'm not aware of any hospital team that uses Twitter (or Yammer). If you do, please write in.
- Secure system for messaging/emailing patients: Not yet available.
- CME course viewer (with text and/or video): Several are available, including Epocrates Rx and ReachMD CME.
15 Comments:
At Sat Dec 06, 10:23:00 PM 2008,
Anonymous said…
I've tried three of the five medical calculators in the hospital this year. Thus far, my favorite is MediMath, and second place would probably go to Mediquations.
At Mon Dec 08, 11:31:00 AM 2008,
Anonymous said…
It would be nice if the information is shown in a table with categories in one column and applications in another column.
At Mon Dec 08, 01:28:00 PM 2008,
Anonymous said…
Is isilo available for the iphone or ipod touch?
Lots of great documents at meistermed.com including Marik's differential diagnosis primer.
At Tue Dec 09, 07:06:00 AM 2008,
Dr.D said…
There is great reason that Epocrates is at the top of your list. Those folks have consistently understood the importance of presenting relevant information in the most efficient manner possible. I've been using Epocrates for years and have been very impressed with the iPhone version. I'm looking forward to the addition of the disease information that is included with their other platforms.
A great addition that you didn't list is Instapaper. It allows one to save articles from their Internet browser with one click. The articles are then downloaded to the iPhone automatically via the Instapaper server. The paid version even includes tilt scrolling which uses the iPhone's built in accelerometer.
At Tue Dec 09, 08:19:00 PM 2008,
Dr. K said…
Excellent review of the available medical apps, and the wish list. As a long time user of Epocrates on my various Palm handhelds, and a current user of Epocrates on my iPhone since the day it came out, I'm happy to say that it is easily my most frequently used medical application on my iPhone. It's fully contained on the unit, no WiFi or other connection necessary, very quick to start and use, extremely clean interface, current via updates, and so on. The new pill ID feature is outstanding, as many of my patients aren't sure of the doses of their meds, and it's very easy to display and magnify images of the various pills in full color.
I also appreciate the multi-drug interaction button. I sometimes inadvertently hit the wrong keys, but when I'm careful, it's flawless.
I do wish they had auto update on the iPhone as with my Palm, and I hope that comes soon. I'm very much looking forward to the launching of Epocrates Essentials, and I encourage you and my colleagues to keep an eye out for it. I expect it to have the same clean interface.
Alan Koenigsberg, M.D.
At Wed Dec 10, 11:25:00 AM 2008,
Anonymous said…
Test
At Wed Dec 10, 12:25:00 PM 2008,
Anonymous said…
MedCalc, the famous medical calculator for Palm and Windows Mobile, is now available on the AppStore for iPhone and iPod touch. It's a free fownload.
At Sat Feb 21, 10:56:00 PM 2009,
Oliver said…
Isn't Unbound offering a journal pushing solution for the Phone?
At Sun Mar 22, 04:42:00 AM 2009,
Dr. E. Atbuydie said…
I prefer iDocTools as my favorite Medical Calculator. And I will also recommend the excellent "Lab Tests" application for quick reference of normal lab values and their interpretation!
At Mon Apr 20, 01:34:00 PM 2009,
Anonymous said…
Immunization schedules are also available now including ShotRecs which mirrors the app I used for my PDA called Shots
At Thu May 21, 03:10:00 AM 2009,
Charles said…
For anatomical Atlas apps:
Like Netter's Anatomy Flash Cards.
Love Skeletal System Plus. Must be new as I haven't seen much on them. But it is a seriously indepth application.
At Thu Jul 02, 08:33:00 PM 2009,
Anonymous said…
I have used Epocrates essentials on my Treo but am planning on purchasing an iPod touch and would be interested in knowing how much memory it uses on the Touch, would it be advisable to get a 16GB or even a 32 GB Touch to leave room for other applications and of course. . . music!
At Thu Aug 27, 12:29:00 PM 2009,
Anonymous said…
MedSpan for the iPhone or iPod Touch translates medical interview questions from English to Spanish (and Spanish to English). It facilitates examinations recording "yes/no" answers and utilizes new portable information technology to expedite physician record-keeping. While other applications merely offer vocabulary, MedSpan allows a health worker to save interview notes on the iPhone/iPod and send results to a designated email account. This program will be of great use to UCD's medical professionals in serving Spanish-speaking patients--especially health providers working at the outlying migrant clinics.
MedSpan can be found at:
http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewSoftware?id=317263580&mt=8
At Sat Sep 26, 09:17:00 AM 2009,
Anonymous said…
To the person who was asking in regards to Epocrates and the amt of GB for an Ipod. I have Epocrates Essentials on my Ipod 8GB in addition to a few other apps and my total used was only 1 GB that also includes 50 pics and 100 songs.
At Thu Oct 22, 01:23:00 AM 2009,
Anubhav Mittal said…
Never lose track of your CME again! iCME lets you track, sort, plan and email your CME directly from your iPhone!
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