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Greetings everyone! New apps are appearing all the time, so I thought I’d compile an updated list of my top 10 iPhone applications for nurses.
These are applications that I believe have the potential to make the art and science of nursing easier for us, the clinical nurse.
So without delay, and in no particular order of preference…
Top 10 iPhone apps for nurses
1. Fast Facts — The Kathy White Fast Facts library is now made for the iPhone! A slew of valuable emergency and critical care information is right at your fingertips. No more carrying around her very good (but sometimes bulky!) handbook.
2. MedCalc — A free medical calculator. Correct sodium for hyperglycemia, calculate body surface area and much more.
3. Pedi-STAT — Do you work in a pediatric ER or ICU or take care of potentially ill children? Pedi-STAT is for you. Think of it as a length-based color-coded tape for the iPhone. Input child’s weight or height and instantly access tube sizes and drug doses for many critical situations.
4. Infuse — A revamped version of the old Palm-based InfusiCalc (which will be coming to the iPhone in the near future) allows you to input all of your hospital’s drug concentrations, and you can quickly, easily and reliably calculate infusion boluses and drips.
5. Nursing Central — From Unbound Medicine, a leader in Palm applications for several years, this app carries Davis’s Drug Guide, Davis’s Laboratory and Diagnostic Tests, Diseases and Disorders, Handbook of Nursing Diagnosis, Medline journals and a Taber’s dictionary.
6. Lytes — A quick review of electrolyte disorders, clinical findings and treatments.
7. iMurmur — A very nice review and collection of heart sounds. Bone up on these and impress the cardiologists!
8. VisualDx — Having a hard time figuring out rashes? I know I do. VisualDx allows you to build a differential diagnosis of rashes by simply inputting your findings and patient information. Helps narrow it down quickly AND provides treatment information.
9. Epocrates — The “basic” version, which is available for free, allows you to always have up-to-date drug information at your fingertips. The annual subscription version also provides information on diseases, infections, pill identification, medical calculators and tables of pertinent, clinical information.
10. Eponyms — Don’t recall what Virchow’s triad is? Look it up as well as more than 1,000 other eponyms with this free (to students) or otherwise inexpensive application. It’s perfect for a working stiff like me!
