The best drug reference app out there is Micromedex, not Epocrates. If drug reference apps were basketball players, Micromedex would be Michael Jordan. It has information that academic pharmacists — who are often the gatekeepers of the sanctity of evidence based practices — can trust. I get upset because I have to then use the online version of Micromedex, instead of their app — which is close to perfection.
Thank you. Back Guidelines, Statements, Clinical Resources. Back Education and Career. Back Events. Back In the Spotlight. Back Podcasts. Back Quality and Practice Management. Our survey illustrates the convenience of apps for health care professionals. Providers must exercise caution when selecting apps to ensure best evidence-based medicine.
Internet connectivity on the go has become a necessity for the millennial generation, and the use of the smartphone technology has helped keep people connected at all times. The concept of smartphones was introduced in the s, but it took another 20 years prior to becoming available in the mainstream. From to , there was a dramatic rise in smartphone usage. In , Apple introduced the iPhone and Google the Android phone in [ 1 ], and with that ushered the meteoric rise of smartphones. With a large screen and high-quality resolution, expandable memory, and a powerful processor, they are much like a handheld computer [ 3 ] and are touted to be the PCs of the future.
This becomes critical for health care professionals who spend little time sitting in front of a computer terminal [ 4 ]. Health care-related apps provide valuable facts in different hospital settings, including the perioperative and intensive care unit ICU environment.
In addition, these apps help health care professionals with tasks such as time management, health record maintenance and access, communications, consulting, monitoring, medical education, and training [ 1 , 5 — 9 ]. The use of smartphones and apps has added a new dimension to how medical knowledge is shared and has altered the way medicine is practiced [ 10 ]. A variety of apps are available in the market: some are free and others paid, and it is believed that there are more than , health care-related medical apps [ 11 ].
The use of smartphone apps has been described in various specialties including orthopedics [ 12 ], dermatology [ 13 ], anesthesiology [ 14 ], neurosurgery [ 15 ], plastic surgery [ 16 ], urology [ 17 ], and infectious diseases [ 18 ]. However, no study to date has reviewed the use of anesthesia apps and how they can help integrate technology into clinical practice. While it is easy to see why medical apps are popular among health care professionals HCPs , the issue of reliability and quality still remains.
In many of the health care-related applications, there was no information received from HCPs during the development leaving the expert medical input lacking in many cases. The purpose of this study is to understand the pattern of utilization of mobile apps specifically created for anesthesia providers and trainees.
The goal was to help in understanding, as well as guiding the future development of the mobile technology in anesthesiology. The boosting prevalence of the health care-related smartphone technology generates a constantly increasing worldwide interest. Anesthesiology, as a profession, has been one of the first departments to adopt new technologies.
In addition to the general medicine application, there are applications related to anesthesia in particular. There are numerous apps to choose from, each contributing to the various responsibilities of an anesthesiologist.
The various apps in anesthesiology can be categorized as follows. These are one of the most widely used categories of apps. These apps, by using conventional formulas and equations, assist in calculating clinical scores and indices.
Remembering different formulas can be cumbersome, time-consuming, and increases the chances of error when working in a stressful environment. By entering the required parameters into the apps, the users can expect a quick and reliable result at the point of care [ 19 ]. There are several commercially available apps that comprise a continually updated drug database, providing reliable information on dosing, indications and contraindications, adverse reactions, interactions, and safety of commonly used medications.
Also, their pill identifier feature enables one to find prescription drugs by imprint, shape, color, and scoring. Examples include Medscape , Lexicomp , and Epocrates.
Epocrates is one of the most commonly used drug reference apps that have been around since the Palm Pilot days [ 10 , 20 ]. It has an extensive drug database, allowing users to search medications by generic or brand name. Its drug interaction feature enables users to list all the medicines the patient takes and then to look for any adverse interactions between them and thus contribute to patient safety [ 20 ]. With most physicians spending a lot of time away from their desk, journal apps are a convenient way of staying updated with the latest scientific and medical research.
These apps function as a journal library, allowing the users to browse and read journals at one place. Read is linked to PubMed interface and reformatted to the mobile device, making for a convenient access to thousands of articles. PubMed mobile is a mobile-friendly interface with the same functions as the web page allowing for easy browsing. Docphin is yet another app that allows for easy access to journals. It requires the users to create an account initially.
Institutional access permits access to PDFs. The app is linked to Dropbox, enabling files to be saved for later reading [ 21 ]. These apps have the advantage of having volumes of textbooks converted to a mobile version, thus allowing for quick and immediate information. These apps can be updated regularly, thus allowing the subscriber to avoid buying newer editions. This also provides point of care access to reference textbooks, which would be otherwise impractical to carry in the operating room.
A majority of textbooks these days come with an online and mobile app access to the contents of the books. In context of anesthesiology, the mobile apps, in addition to providing useful readily available information, can also interact with the users. This interactive experience can be catered into simulation experience for the anesthesia providers. Double lumen uses real bronchoscopic video images that the program retrieves as the user manipulates a virtual bronchoscope.
Interestingly, anesthesia apps have found their way among the pediatric age group as well. In a study among the Korean children undergoing surgery, behavioral intervention program with a smartphone application was used as an alternative to premedication with a positive effect.
This may allow the use of premedication at a low dose, if not getting rid of it all together in the future [ 22 ]. This study was aimed at surveying the pattern of anesthesiology apps used among anesthesia providers in the United States.
Anesthesiology apps are currently available in the app store across different operating platforms. Also, we did not search specifically apps related to pain medicine.
Institutional Review Board IRB approval was obtained for the study design, protocol, and survey questions. The survey consisted of nine questions Table 1 and required an approximate duration of two minutes to complete. The data were analyzed utilizing SPSS version Match Statistics table below.
Seniors who ranked each specialty as their only choice. Detailed information about the scope of these subspecialty training programs, number of positions offered, and length of training is available at the FREIDA website.
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