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Look in the bag of any hospital doctor today, and it is likely that you will find several reference guides, pocket books, shift rotas, journals, and revision materials. While having these to hand throughout the day may be desirable, it is not always practical because of the sheer volume of information. Many doctors already use personal digital assistants (PDAs) to help them to organise and store information, but the introduction of the iPhone and iPod Touch with their large, touch screen displays could provide doctors with a powerful tool, especially when combined with third party medical applications.
This article looks primarily at the medical applications for the iPhone and iPod Touch because they are newer to the market, but it is worth mentioning that many applications are available on other platforms, including BlackBerry, Palm OS, and Windows Mobile.
Medical applications are available through the iTunes store, and Apple provides a top 20 list of the most popular free and paid applications. They can be downloaded quickly from the store and are easily transferred to the iPhone or iPod Touch, using iTunes. The iPhone or iPod Touch screen makes it possible to view clinical pictures, electrocardiograms, and radiographs; however, medical applications are in the early stages of development, and only a few offer true interactivity.
Practical applications
Epocrates Rx (free) -A drug database providing reference to over 3000 generic and proprietary drugs. It includes information about dosing, adverse reactions, interactions, and pricing as well as Pill ID, which identifies drugs by their physical appearance-possibly useful when identifying a pill described by a patient. Free updates are available. At the time of writing, however, US brand names are used. Epocrates Rx together with Epocrates Essential and Pro are also available for BlackBerry, Palm OS, and Windows Mobile PDA platforms.
Eponyms (£1.19) -Provides short descriptions of over 1600 eponymous signs and diseases, making it an ideal reference guide when that one eponym eludes you.
EyeChart (free) and MedCards (free) -A selection of useful information cards, including a Snellen chart, Ishihara colour...