Top 10 iPhone apps for nurses

Hospitals and nurses are turning more and more to mobile devices to deliver efficient, high-quality patient care.
As acute nurse practitioner and trauma nurse specialist Andrew Bowman attests, “I could not function professionally or personally without my handheld devices to help me manage all the things that I have to do.”

Here are ten must-have iPhone apps for nurses that are tops on Bowman’s list:

1. Epocrates Essentials: A complete drug reference including herbals and OTCs, disease database, pill identifier, drug interaction guide, lab test reference and infectious disease guide. Replaces several books one might need for similar information.

2. Eponyms: Don’t know what Wunderlich’s Syndrome is? Look it up quickly with Eponyms.

3. Infuse: A drug infusion calculator. Allows nurses to build their own hospital database of standard concentrations. Then, when needed, nurses plug in the patient’s weight and dose desired, and an infusion rate is immediately provided. Nurses can also change on the fly in case they have to double concentrate their hospital standard preparations.

4. MedCalc: A free medical calculator

5. Memos: Especially great if converting to iPhone from a Palm device. Allows nurses to transfer their Palm-based memos to a format read by iPhone. “I had more than 1,200 memos and this was a HUGE time-saver,” says Bowman.

6. OB Wheel: A quick calculator to determine gestational age and EDC

7. PediSTAT: Think of it as the Broselow tape for the iPhone. Plug in the child’s age or weight and instantly you have a guide to airway equipment sizes, drug dosages, fluid/blood resuscitation, seizure treatment, normal vitals, sedation dosing, pain management and more.

8. ACLS Advisor: A guide to current ACLS guidelines

9. PALS Advisor: A guide to current PALS guidelines

10. Nursing Central: Geared more toward nurses. Includes a drug guide, lab and diagnostic test reference, diseases and disorders reference, handbook of nursing diagnoses and Taber’s dictionary.