Thursday, June 25, 2015

20 Phone Apps for Physician Assistants

20 Phone Apps for Physician Assistants
With the immersion and implementation of EMR,  medical phone applications has drastically changed - for the better. As a physician assistant or PA student, you will tasked with “keeping up with the Jones’” in order to monitor the progress of your patients and keep patients interested enough to want to monitor themselves. Products like the Apple Watch and the FitBit have already proven that patients want to monitor their vitals, we just needed a better, easier, and more efficient way for them to do it. I have found the following applications interesting enough to implement into my own practice, but I have not listed any applications for studying here. Instead, these apps offer a variety of services and resources available to you for your patient interaction and monitoring. Take a look at some of them and let me know what you think. If you have found an app that you think is better than some of these listed, let me know in the comments section and I’ll definitely check them out. Thanks for reading!


  1. CareZone - Free app that allows your patients to scan in their medications from their bottles at home. It documents all information from the label and will remind patients (via alerts) to take their medications to increase compliance. It also reminds them when their refills are expiring and provides them with the phone number of the prescribing provider so they can call to request a refill or an appointment. Patients can keep a journal with information and photos about their progress with new medications to show providers. Very useful app in my opinion!
    3. Similar Apps: RxmindMe Prescription/Medicine Reminder and Pill Tracker (free), MedCoach Medication Reminder (free)
  2. Canopy Medical Translator - Very useful app for wards to communicate with patients in languages other than Spanish. It has pre-recorded phrases for each specialty (emergency medicine, pediatrics, dermatology, etc.) that are specific. It programs your school’s or work’s translator phone service into the app so you can easily press “call” and it dials the number for you if you can’t communicate what you need to.
    3. Promo Code: aapavip
  3. Davis’ Drug Guide with Updates and Calculators - This free app gives you integrated dosing calculators, new FDA approvals and updates, access to REMS, discontinued drug lists, and pill images to confirm pills.
    1. Android
  4. Epocrates - Allows healthcare professionals to find other providers for consults or referrals, review drug prescribing and safety information, check for drug-drug interactions, select national/regional healthcare insurance formularies to check for drug coverage, identify pills by imprint code and physical characteristics, and perform simple calculations like BMI and GR. Disease information, alternative medications, lab guides, and other clinical tools are available with an annual upgrade fee of $159.99.
    1. Android
    3. Similar Apps: UpToDate (free), VisualDX (free), Medscape (free), Omnio (free), Lexicomp (free), Taber’s Medical Dictionary (free), UMMC’s Medical Encyclopedia (free), PEPID (free), Harrison’s Manual of Medicine (free)
  5. MyNetDiary - This free app allows patients keep track of their daily calorie intake and also provides an area to track the amount of physical activity per day. It is pretty accurate and lets patients set their own goals (maintain, lose, or gain weight). The app lets you know how many calories you have left for the day, calculating in your exercise each day. It can calculate specifics about your fat, saturated fat, vitamins, minerals, etc. consumed each day.
  6. MyChart - This app developed by the EHR/EMR guru’s at Epic allows you and your patients to review test results, medications, immunization history, etc. It allows your patients to stay in touch with their provider and to manage appointments. Patients can also upload health/fitness data, even information from the Apple Health app. They can view and pay their bill and access their family’s health information.
    1. Android
    3. Similar Apps: FollowMyHealth Mobile (free), Mayo Clinic (free), Care360 (free)
  7. Period Tracker, Menstrual Calendar and Ovulation Calculator - This app allows you to record and predict your periods and fertile days. Additionally, you can track your moods, weight, symptoms, medications and supplements taken. Your patients will be able to store daily notes if menstrual irregularities are occurring and they can even record other wellness data for your use.
    1. Android
  8. Vision Test - Allows your patients to perform a simple visual acuity test, astigmatism test, color test, far field vision test, and find optometrists in the area.
    1. Android
    3. Similar Apps: uHear (free)
  9. ZocDoc - Allows patients to schedule appointments with you online and read local reviews about other providers. Some apps, such as Doctor on Demand, allow you to have visits from home with providers over the phone for about $40.
    1. Android
    3. Similar Apps: Doctor On Demand (free), Amnion Physician Scheduling (free)
  10. Blood Pressure Monitor - Allows patients to input data from their home blood pressure monitors. They can also import or export data in multiple formats (PDF or plain message). Patients are able to report data from select periods of time.
    1. Android
    3. Similar Apps: Smart Blood Pressure (free), iBP Blood Pressure (free)
  11. Baby Nursing/Breastfeeding - A baby diary, timer, and activities log. Allows patients to track their baby’s nursing progress, growth, diaper changes, doctor’s visits, and health data. Free with many in-app purchases available.
    1. Android
  12. ICD9 Consult 2015 - Free app that is searchable and browsable with up-to-date ICD9-CM for quick references to diagnosis codes.
    1. Android
    3. Similar Apps: VisualDX (free)
  13. Glucose Buddy - A storage utility device for diabetes patients to log glucose readings, carbohydrate consumption, insulin dosing, and activity levels.
    1. Android
  14. Medical Eponyms - An app developed to help students remember common and obscure medical eponyms (Rovsing’s Sign, Virchow’s Node, Bennett’s fracture, etc.) and to provide a searchable database to look one up.
    1. Android
    3. Similar Apps: ECG Pocket Reference (free), ECG Guide ($0.99), Pocket Lab Values (free)
  15. Mental Illness Tests, Screening, Treatment, and Management - Discusses important mental health topics for medical professionals and curious patients to learn more about mental illness.
    1. Android
  16. Vitamins & Minerals Encyclopedia for Weight Loss - Helps patients to improve their diet and health knowledge
    1. Android
    3. Similar Apps: Food & Nutrition Facts and Tips (free)
  17. iHeadache - Tracks headache activity, disability, medications taken, and possible triggers.
    1. Android
  18. AHRQ ePSS (Screening, Prognosis, and Counseling) - Developed to assist primary care providers in screening, counseling, and locating preventative medication services clinically appropriate. Based on current recommendations of the US Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF).
    1. Android
  19. NCCN Reimbursement Resource App - The cost of cancer care continues to rise and patients with cancer and their caregivers often struggle to pay for therapy. As a response to these ongoing challenges, help is available through the NCCN Reimbursement Resource App; users are able to search for available resources and payment assistance programs. Information on resources available are listed under three different tabs entitled: Search by Cancer Type or Supportive Care Indication, Search by Drug Name (brand or generic), and Search by Reimbursement or Assistance Program.
  20. NICHE for Patient + Family (Geriatrics) - This free app developed by Baylor Scott & White Health enables patients and their family members the tools to prepare themselves for hospitalization, and transitions between home, hospital, and nursing homes. It offers checklists of items to bring to the hospital when staying for extended periods of time and what to do when leaving the hospital. For example, medication lists, the names and phone numbers of all medical providers, surgical history, family phone numbers, and allergies or adverse reactions to medications, food, or environment. It has a built in search feature that allows users to locate the nearest facility if they need medical attention and it is updated daily with healthcare guidance, product/service information and lifestyle ideas.

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2 comments:

  1. Diabetes Monitoring AppsTuesday, January 5, 2016 at 12:32:00 AM CST

    Great Post and Nice Article.I had never know about this before.I like it.Thanks for sharing.

    ReplyDelete
  2. UnknownMonday, May 23, 2016 at 8:42:00 AM CDT

    Another great app that you might want to consider is the Mobile Drug Guide: http://mdg.usgovxml.com.

    The Mobile Drug Guide provides the ability to search for information about drugs in the nation's prescription formulary based on the drug's name, active ingredients, NDC or, in the case of a pill, its physical characteristics. The information provided includes clinical trials, drug-drug interactions, recalls, high resolution images (when available), etc.

    The Mobile Drug Guide is a free mobile web app that runs in the browsers of smartphones, tablets and desktops.

    ReplyDelete

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