Smart phone medical programs

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You will need to verify that you receive Medicaid or confirm your income. The FDA does not control the content of most apps; only when apps cross the line of providing direct medical advice does the FDA make approval mandatory. Other apps available for free download include symptom checkers, where people can input basic symptoms such as abdominal pain and get a whole list of possible causes, prompting inappropriate self-diagnosis and unneeded anxiety. Not surprisingly, we found a larger number of articles that discussed ways in which the smartphone is improving communication on internal medicine wards.

These results suggest that there may be a role for better communication between doctors and nurses; however, drawbacks such as weakened interprofessional relationships may produce new issues. We found it interesting that many people are looking into using the smartphone for remote diagnosis. In the future, patients may not need to see their physicians in person as often to get the same quality of care.

However, we have not found any evidence specific to the smartphone to support this. Medical schools in the United States are also beginning to use technology more in their curriculum.

Online resources are easily accessed. As the role of the smartphone continues to grow, we can only expect that its role in medical education will expand with more institutions incorporating it into their curriculums. However, we need to have better evidence to support both its use and methods of how best to use it.

Among our categories, we found that the area most lacking in evidence is the use of smartphones for physician or student reference apps. We found only one older study looking into the effectiveness of apps to aid in the practice of medicine, with Epocrates. There is no clear reported data on usage statistics, but we presume that given the high number physicians with smartphones and the large availability of apps, many physicians are using these reference apps.

A survey of health care providers showed that attitudes toward using smartphones are in general very positive [ 62 ]. Given the importance of medical reference apps and the paucity of published data regarding available apps and the evidence for their use, we present a list of commonly used apps and make suggestions for future research toward better understanding their utility.

This list of apps derives from our anecdotal experience, for which we have given preference to apps known to have a vast database, to have reliable content, to be well respected or contain information adapted from well-respected resources , and to have been available for many years.

There are no conflicts of interest. We review some of the most popular and important apps being used to enhance continuing medical education, improve patient care, and promote communication Table 1. Epocrates is well known for offering a free, up-to-date pharmacologic reference that is available for all smartphone platforms.

Strengths of this program include drug dosage guidelines, adverse reactions, mechanism of action, and a drug interaction checker. Epocrates also offers an upgrade to the full version that includes more comprehensive disease and laboratory information.

Another resource in medical-related apps for doctors is Skyscape Skyscape. Skyscape focuses on creating mobile phone apps for all health care professions and boasts over apps spanning 35 specialties. They formulate popular textbooks into searchable programs on the smartphone.

Both companies have apps available for many categories, including pharmacology, medical references, and medical dictionaries. DynaMed houses a large repository of disease, syndrome, and drug information. Once the app is fully downloaded, an Internet connection is no longer needed to access this program. UpToDate offers a mobile Web version of their ubiquitous Web platform that is similar in organization but does not offer a smartphone app. Mobile differential diagnosis programs can help ensure that common diagnoses are not overlooked or discovered too late.

Other apps, such as medical calculators, are very prevalent in app stores and can help quickly calculate risk scores or other common calculations, such as water deficit in hypernatremia. Skyscape offers a free medical calculator called Archimedes.

The aforementioned programs are just a few of the large number of evolving resources on the mobile phone. They also provide medical news and case studies for continuing education. QuantiaMD Quantia Communications, Inc, Waltham, MA, USA has a mobile app that specializes in continuing medical education by providing well-scripted interactive case studies that can be shared with colleagues Figure 3.

Continuing medical education credits can also be earned. QuantiaMD allows for interactive case challenges within multiple specialties, features guest lecturers, and allows physicians to earn continuing medical education points, all from the smartphone.

It allows physicians, once registered, to network and even communicate patient-related information in a Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act-compliant text messaging environment Figure 4. Doximity connects colleagues from around the United States and allows for secure communication.

While many of these apps have been available for years and are very popular, there are still no data to both support their use and help us understand how best to use them.

We believe that studies surveying doctors on the perceived impact that specific apps create, as well as examining patient care outcomes, can help us understand how powerful these apps can be. The use of these apps by students while on clinical rotations can also support education at the bedside. This could translate into an improved quality of education that could be a focus of examination.

We again emphasize the ramifications mentioned above of patients self-diagnosing using apps that are not regulated. Moreover, the major technological improvements of both hardware and software are still relatively new and, thus, sometimes unreliable. Furthermore, older physicians and others less inclined to use or intimidated by new technologies may be at a disadvantage if the use of smartphones becomes more requisite within medicine.

Similarly, elderly patients may find it difficult to use and interpret the information provided to them by their smartphone, possibly putting them at greater risk than those who are more technologically savvy. And finally, as we become more dependent on technology, we become more dependent on it working flawlessly, with catastrophic implications when it fails. Doctors and patients are not able to take full advantage of smartphone technology in areas such as teleconferencing, sending pictures, and emailing, due to health care system reimbursement processes in the United States.

These systems usually reimburse only the time spent with patients face-to-face. As the smartphone integrates its way even more permanently into our medical practices, a greater question arises: will this mobile technology improve communication between doctors and patients or detract from it by limiting the personalized interactions that occur best at the bedside or in the office?

The major limitation of the review stems from the overall paucity of high-quality studies such as multicentered or controlled trials using the smartphone in medicine. While we did find some studies of patient monitoring and communication, even these categories leave many questions to be answered, and future studies are either planned or underway. Additionally, we again note that this review did not include papers that demonstrated novel uses of the smartphone in the field of surgery and its surgical subspecialties.

As internal medicine physicians, we felt that our analysis on this subject may be inaccurate and thus chose not to include this. Another limitation of this study is the rapid and evolving nature of this technology. We intended to make this review as up-to-date as possible, including the addition of new reports just prior to publication of this paper; however, this topic is evolving as rapidly as advancements in the industry are made, outpacing our ability to provide the most current study possible.

The amount of research in the use of the smartphone in medicine is rapidly growing, but there are very few good-quality studies to answer many questions about its use and the impact it may have. Apps for pharmacology, medical references, and a myriad of other categories are providing physicians with quick and practical medical information that will aid in education and patient care.

Communication within hospitals and between patients is improving. Additionally, developing countries now have the potential to access better diagnostic tools in resource-poor regions. However, many obstacles still stand in the way of this progress. The question regarding whether smartphones in medicine will lead to a healthier population with better patient—doctor relationships remains to be answered.

Nevertheless, the smartphone has a very bright future in the world of medicine, while doctors, engineers, and others alike continue to contribute more ingenuity to this dynamic field. It is our hope that by informing the medical community of the numerous ways in which the smartphone can be used to benefit health care providers, patients, and their families, the smartphone may one day be recognized as a diagnostic and therapeutic tool that is as irreplaceable as the stethoscope has been in the practice of medicine.

We would also like to thank Kelley Skeff, MD, for his advice. We finally thank the editor, reviewers, and our colleagues for their useful comments, which greatly helped to improve this paper. Conflicts of Interest: None declared.

National Center for Biotechnology Information , U. J Med Internet Res. Published online Sep Reviewed by Rob Wu and Felasfa Wodajo. Author information Article notes Copyright and License information Disclaimer.

Corresponding author. This article has been cited by other articles in PMC. Abstract Background Advancements in technology have always had major impacts in medicine.

Objective To provide a comprehensive and up-to-date summary of the role of the smartphone in medicine by highlighting the ways in which it can enhance continuing medical education, patient care, and communication. Methods We conducted a review of all published uses of the smartphone that could be applicable to the field of medicine and medical education with the exclusion of only surgical-related uses. Results In the 60 studies that were identified, we found many uses for the smartphone in medicine; however, we also found that very few high-quality studies exist to help us understand how best to use this technology.

Keywords: Smartphone, technology, education, medicine, telemedicine, health care, Android, iPhone, BlackBerry, mobile phone. This app is an excellent tool for healthcare professionals working in general medicine or specifically in the area of cardiac or emergency care.

It gives an opportunity to study echocardiograms, both normal and abnormal along with images, videos and information on a particular medical condition.

This free app provides daily medical updates, medical information and has detail guide on medical conditions, their diagnosis and treatment. It offers a great medical and surgical procedure reference and drug interaction checker.

This popular app provides information on prescribing drugs, generic and over the counter medicines. Also available is handy information on their dosages, safe prescription, adverse effects and potential drug interactions. This iOS app is a digital version of the text and has similar sections that can be browsed for reference at any time.

This article on Epainassist. We follow a strict editorial policy and we have a zero-tolerance policy regarding any level of plagiarism. Our articles are resourced from reputable online pages.

This article may contains scientific references. National Center for Biotechnology Information , U. Journal List P T v. Lee Ventola , MS. Author information Copyright and License information Disclaimer. The author is a consultant medical writer living in New Jersey. This article has been cited by other articles in PMC. Need for Mobile Devices at the Point of Care One major motivation driving the widespread adoption of mobile devices by HCPs has been the need for better communication and information resources at the point of care.

How HCPs Use Mobile Devices and Apps Health care professionals use medical devices and apps for many purposes, most of which can be grouped under five broad categories: administration, health record maintenance and access, communications and consulting, reference and information gathering, and medical education. Open in a separate window. Table 2 Medical apps for health care professionals 2 , 4.

Communication and Consulting Health care systems are often highly dispersed, encompassing multiple locations such as clinics, inpatient wards, outpatient services, emergency departments, operating theaters, intensive care units, and labs. Reference and Information Gathering Literature Research and Review Mobile devices are invaluable tools for HCPs to use to search or access medical literature, as well as other information sources.

Drug References Drug reference applications are generally used to access information including: drug names, indications, dosages, pharmacology, interactions, contraindications, cost, formulary status, identification guides, and dose by weight calculators. Patient Management Clinical Decision-Making Mobile devices provide HCPs with convenient and rapid access to evidence-based information, supporting clinical decision-making at the point of care.

Patient Monitoring The use of mobile devices to remotely monitor the health or location of patients with chronic diseases or conditions has already become a viable option.

Medical Education and Training Mobile devices play an increasingly important role in medical education as students and schools use more technology during training. Convenience Many mobile apps have made the practice of evidence-based medicine at the point of care more convenient.

Better Clinical Decision-Making Many medical apps make mobile devices invaluable tools that support clinical decision-making at the point of care. Improved Accuracy Mobile devices have repeatedly been found to improve the completeness and accuracy of patient documentation, an effect that has often been attributed to ease of use. Increased Efficiency Evidence has shown that mobile devices allow HCPs to be more efficient in their work practices.

Enhanced Productivity Research has shown that the use of mobile devices at the point of care has helped streamline workflow and increase the productivity of HCPs. Footnotes Disclosure: The author reports that she has no commercial or financial relationships in regard to this article. BMJ Open. Aungst TD. Medical applications for pharmacists using mobile devices.

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