Discover the 6 best free apps for doctors, healthcare professionals, and medical students. Smartphone apps can help organize, save time, and make life easy.
New technology has revolutionized nearly every industry and healthcare is no exception. With innovative healthcare apps, healthcare professionals can access the information they need and deliver quality care. In this guide, you'll learn about the best free apps for healthcare professionals. At this moment, there are more than 100,000 mobile health apps available for you to download at major app stores – and no, that’s not a typo. Furthermore, according to Research2Guidance, the market for mobile health app services will reach $26 billion by 2017 – again, not a typo. Mobile technologies, specifically mobile apps, continue to prove they are more than capable of transforming the healthcare industry and simplifying your life as a medical professional.
Most health care professionals spend years in school and residency learning everything there is to know about their specific field before they begin their occupational careers. However, due to the abundance of available knowledge and the constant development of medical research, this process of learning certainly does not conclude upon graduation. New healthcare apps can help healthcare professionals advance their careers even further. Health care professionals must be perennial learners by default in order to keep up with advances in the industry.
As medical research has progressed, so too has the ability to access the findings and results. There is no longer the need to dig through old textbooks or spend hours on the phone in order to acquire this valuable healthcare information. Thankfully, “there’s an app for that.” These healthcare apps are revolutionizing the way you are able to perform your job as a medical professional by instantly giving you flexible access to information. You now have the ability to obtain, store, and share information – all in the palm of your hand.
Although there are thousands of apps for healthcare professionals available, the use of these apps is still in its early stages. There are two main obstacles that may be keeping you from joining the widespread adoption of apps:
Trust
As a healthcare professional, you are placed in critical situations on a daily basis. Receiving the right information and instructions can be the difference between a successful operation and a malpractice lawsuit – and even the difference between life and death for your patient.
Quality
While the abundance of available health care apps is certainly a positive, app stores are still congested with incompetent busts that do not offer much help – making it more difficult to find quality apps. It is difficult to navigate through this plethora of options to find which apps can help you the most.
In order to make your life easier, eMedCert decided to knock down these barriers for you. Healthcare apps have the potential to be monumentally helpful resources, but you must know which apps to use. After countless hours of research and testing various apps for healthcare professionals, we have put together our recommended list of the absolute best free apps for healthcare professionals.
Here are the best free apps for healthcare professionals, according to our research:
Table of Contents
Medscape
Purpose:
All-in-One, General Knowledge
Description:
There is a reason Medscape is commonly regarded as the number one app for health care professionals. Over three million medical professionals worldwide currently use this comprehensive all-in-one mobile medical app. Medscape was created by WebMD, and offers many similar functions including medical news, drug and clinical references, images and procedure videos, CME (Continuing Medical Education) activities, and much more. If you were to only download one mobile app to aid your health care career, Medscape is your best choice.
Quick Download Links:
Calculate (Medical Calculator) by QxMD
Purpose:
Medical Calculator
Description:
For most health care professionals, having a medical calculator on hand is a must. Look no further than Calculate (Medical Calculator) by QxMD. This essential app offers over 150 unique calculators and decision support tools and allows you to search for specific calculators by specialty. It has a simple, yet polished interface that makes it very easy to use. This user experience and functionality is what separates Calculate (Medical Calculator) by QxMD from the rest of the field of medical calculator apps.
Quick Download Links:
Read by QxMD
Purpose:
Medical Literature
Description:
Another great app developed by QxMD Medical Software. Read by QxMD is the solution for all your medical literature needs. Have access to all your favorite medical journals in one single location. Store and organize your articles, personalize your account, and share articles through email, Twitter, and Facebook – all with the click of a button. Read by QxMD also gives you the ability to effortlessly access PubMed (with proper credentials), allowing you to bypass the hassle of using your medical center’s web portal.
Quick Download Links:
MediBabble Translator
Purpose:
Medical Translator
Description:
Have you ever been in a situation where a language barrier played a significant role in the level of care a patient received? This handy app won’t let that happen again. MediBabble is hands-down the best medical translation app available to health care professionals. This app has thousands of pre-translated medical questions and instructions that can be played through high-quality audio recordings in English, Spanish, Mandarin, German, Russian, and more. While live translators are often available and indisputably more effective, don’t rely solely on this option – download MediBabble today.
Quick Download Links:
Visual Anatomy Lite
Purpose:
Anatomy
Description:
Visual Anatomy Lite is an interactive anatomy tool that features stunningly realistic 3-D rotational models of the human body parts, along with descriptions for each specific part. The app contains 120 high-resolution images, more than 300 labels with descriptions, multiple-choice quizzes, and more. The ability to interact with these visual features offers a refreshing alternative to conventional learning methods and can be a useful app for health care professionals, regardless of their specific occupation.
Quick Download Links:
Prognosis: Your Diagnosis
Description:
Who said learning about health care couldn’t be fun? Prognosis: Your Diagnosis is a creative app that was developed with a goal to “make medicine fun.” This app is designed for health care professionals of all types – physicians, nurses, paramedics, etc. Although this app is considered to be a game, it is still very informative and highly effective. After being presented with a clinical case simulation, it is up to you to decide on the correct course of action to resolve the issue.
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* It should be noted that this list is compiled of only medical-related apps. There are several “non-medical” apps, such as Evernote or Dropbox, which can be very useful for medical purposes. However, they are not included in this list.
As long as smartphones and tablets continue to emerge as an integral component of accessing, storing, and sharing information, the evolution of mobile apps will continue to grow with it – don’t get left behind. This list is a great place to start. These apps listed above, in our opinion, are the best free apps for healthcare professionals today. Each app listed above has the ability to improve your life and career in multiple ways – embrace their potential.
eMedCert is evolving with the digital healthcare landscape by offering online courses for medical professionals. Whether you are looking to get certified or recertified in ACLS, PALS, or BLS - our time-efficient and convenient courses will easily integrate with your busy schedule. Check out our website to learn more.