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EMJ asked some of the world's best known digital natives to sort through the dizzying assortment of apps that might be useful for emergency physicians in their day-to-day clinical work. Here is what they came up with.
Medical apps allow physicians to access content that used to be stored on flash cards, pieces of haphazardly arranged paper and booklets. Especially critical for the day-to-day work pace of the Emergency Department (ED), apps enable this content to be quickly accessible to medical providers on their smartphones. Early pioneers in point-of-care mobile health references, such as Medscape and Epocrates, are now being challenged by newer apps, which are often superior in terms of user interface design and content quality. With approximately 300 Emergency Medicine (EM)-related apps in the Apple App Store, finding which medical apps to use in practice can be difficult.
The following list showcases our Top 10 app choices, as well as a new 'rising star' app, that would be useful for EM clinicians. These apps are listed in alphabetical order and provide additional app-specific information, such as platform compatibility, cost and the requirement for wireless access after app download.
ERRes
Platform(s): iOS, Android
Cost: $4.99
Wireless access required: No
There is no perfect clinical decision support or point-of-care app which covers the broad range of topics in EM. The best we found so far is ERres, a multi-purpose app that can be used by a broad range of clinicians ranging from the medical student to the senior attending physician. The app is divided into 12 main sections, including Decision Rules, Ultrasound, Toxicology and Calculator Tools. You can bookmark frequently accessed topics to more quickly retrieve this information in the future. Of note, this app, which was created in the USA, does not use British approved names for the medications.
Evernote
Platform(s): iOS, Android
Cost: Free
Wireless access required: Yes (for free version)
Although not strictly an EM-based app, Evernote is a cloud-based notetaking and archiving application. Evernote made the Top 10 list because it can serve as your customised, paperless reference tool. For instance, hospital guidelines, specific...