DING! DING! NEW NOTIFICATION!

 

How Often Do You Wish You Had A Doctor on Hand?

What if I told you, you could have a doctor on hand? By hand, I mean on your phone! Like me, I am sure you have come upon a medical question and need an answer! One way to help you out is apps on your phone! There are many apps that are available at your fingertips that have wide databases of medical help! 

Today I am here to inform you about the apps that can help you answer your medical questions and why they are a good add-on to your phone! 

Why pick these apps?

To begin with, apps are convenient and helpful. Many times you may need a quick response about a medication you are using. An example includes knowing that antibiotics make birth control ineffective, many people may not know this, and having the luxury of an app to tell you can be the difference between a bun in the oven or not. These applications also allow the patient and healthcare provider to interact, communicate and discuss concerns about medications or care. They can be great conversation starters and key point directors. These apps also benefit the healthcare provider themselves. "Health Care Providers not only need to be mobile themselves, they also need to be able to communicate and collaborate with people in different locations. Mobile devices satisfy this need by offering multiple means of communication, including voice and video calling; text, e-mail, and multimedia messaging; and video conferencing (Ventola, 2014)". As any good app would, these healthcare apps also allow for communication needs with providers and patients. 

What Are These Apps and Where Can I Find Them?

The following apps are the top five medical applications to aid you in your healthcare. 

1. Medscape

The Medscape app is my go-to app on my phone! It helps me look up any medication I need, including the adverse effect, dosage, and what the drug can be interacted with! This app is free and available on the Apple Store and the Google Play Store. 

"Medscape is listed as one of the most commonly used medical apps in multiple studies.1,3 The app provides an extensive resource for clinicians, including data on more than 8,000 medications and 7,600 diseases or conditions as well as step-by-step procedural articles and image collections. It also offers a consult service that allows users to confer with other physicians on diagnoses and treatment options and provides continuing medical education (CME) for some of its activities. The drug interaction checker can compare up to 30 medications, herbals, or foods simultaneously" (Rebedew, 2018).

2. UPTODATE

"The interaction checker can compare more than 50 medications simultaneously. UpToDate sets itself apart by providing overdose treatment, symptoms, and toxidromes for both medications and household products" (Rebedew, 2018). This application is free to download, but requires a subscription to use! Available on the Apple Store and the Google Play Store. 

3. Clinical Pharmacology 

This app is useful for your prescriptions! It specifically tells you what to do if you miss a dose and has information on many household medications. This application is free to download, but requires a subscription to use! Available on the Apple Store and the Google Play Store. 

"Many local pharmacists use this resource for answering pharmaceutical questions. The app sets itself apart by listing inactive ingredients and is one of only three apps that describe what to do if a patient misses a dose" (Rebedew, 2018).

4. DRUGS.COM

This app makes medications simple! Looking up any drug in this app will allow you to understand what it is used for. They also provide you with interactive tools to help you with your medications. Downloading this app is free, but removing ads costs $1.99 for three months or $4.99 for a full year.

"With the app, patients can use a symptom checker, record their medications in My Med List, and perform phonetic searches for medications. The interaction checker can track more than 50 medications and foods at once. Other unique features include its list of top 40 drug searches, drug popularity rankings, user ratings and commentaries, pregnancy safety warnings, alcohol effects and warnings, recent alerts from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and a drug comparison tool. The drug comparison tool considers price, half-life, number of medication interactions, and disease interactions" (Rebedew, 2018).

5. Epocrates

"The app is one of the few to include safety and monitoring parameters. Unfortunately, it does not list the frequency of side effects by percentage for each medication. It does list off-label or prescription-strength uses and includes dosing recommendations found in generic monographs" (Rebedew, 2018).

This application is free for download on the Apple Store and the Google Play Store. A premium version is offered for the app as well. 

In conclusion, I hope this information I have provided on healthcare apps has helped you understand their contribution to you and their ease of access! Instead of listening to MedMD, next time consider one of these education apps to help you out!

Until next time sugar! 

-Sugar Pill Rx

References

Rebedew, D. (2018, December 1). Six mobile apps to make prescribing easier. Family Practice Management. Retrieved April 21, 2022, from https://www.aafp.org/fpm/2018/1100/p11.html

Ventola, C. L. (2014, May). Mobile devices and apps for Health Care Professionals: Uses and benefits. P & T : a peer-reviewed journal for formulary management. Retrieved April 21, 2022, from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4029126/