#epocrates

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Nursing school will lead you to believe you need to know every medication, ever. You should have your pharmacology book memorized. That’s a damn lie. There are new medications being advertised every month. There’s no way you can possibly keep up. There absolutely nothing wrong with that. However, know the medications you are giving to your patient! Before passing meds take a moment to look and…

Is there an app for that?

My guess is that if you were to ask this question of your peers – which I kinda have over on my Facebook page of the same name – that the answer would be yes. There are apps out there that I never dreamed about. And there are a LOT that are targeted to health – your health, your clinician getting information for your health, your exercise, your disease monitoring…. I could go on.

Recently, I…

Yesterday, I told you about Epocrates. It has been a god-send since I started using it. **See my original post to see what I like and dislike about that particular app**

Today, I want to tell you about a few (okay a lot of) other medical apps I use on a regular basis. Most of them are free, so why not?! Here are some screenshots of my iPhone’s RxP (Rx=Medical Psychologist) Medical App folder.

As you can see, I have collected quite a few. I would say they are pretty much in order of importance from left to right screenshots. Inside each screenshot, I tend to position the apps I use more frequently in the middle and corners. Don’t ask me why, it’s just how my brain works. (And yes, that’s my little boy in my background image. He just turned 1!)

The 1st page (far left screenshot) you will see:

Rx Shortages:

This is extremely useful when you are attempting to prescribe a slightly rare medication because you can save yourself  and your patient a lot of time (and money) by making sure there is not a shortage in your area. A little more user-friendly than theFDA Drug Shortage app listed below.

Epocrates:

See my previous post about why I use Epocrates on a daily basis.

FDA Drug Shortages:

Similar to Rx Shortages but shows a slightly different view of drug shortages in your area and is run by FDA. That is both a blessing and a curse, as it is both exhaustive and cumbersome.

About Herbs: or Herbal Guide on Google (Disclosure: I have not used, yet!)

This used to be a great app but is currently buggy and I can’t even open it, at the moment. Ugh! When it was working, it showed most OTC herbal remedies that can be used for mild (to moderate) mental health issues.

MPR:

Basic, but user-friendly and free.

Formulary: At quick glance there does not seem to be an equivalent Google app (please correct me if I’m wrong.)

A very useful app for checking if a particular insurance will approve a medication you are thinking about prescribing. This is extremely important for working with patients with Medicaid! (About 95% of my caseload.) Downfall is that it is not always 100% accurate.

MobilePDR:

This is a highly useful app and competes with Epocrates pretty well.

LabGear: (there are a few Lab Value app on Google but I have not tried any.)

This is one of the only apps for which I paid. It was a whopping $2.99, or you can bundle it with a few other Medical apps to make each one cheaper. I highly recommend purchasing it as it is invaluable when analyzing Lab Values and explaining them to your patient.

PocketRx:

This is app is pretty cool. It’s a lot like the MobilePDR, MPR, and Epocrates. However, what I think sets it apart is the ability to have make a “Med Box.” In the med box, you can add your Patient’s medications. It will show you: Interactions, Precautions, and Side Effects. That’s not even the best part! It will also save the profile for later reference. That is a huge time saver!

  Click on the picture to see the Next Page of Medical Apps: