Recommended Nursing Apps — iPhone iPod

Recommended iPhone and iPod touch Nursing Apps

Go Student Nurse updates this web page intermittently with recommended iPod touch and iPhone nursing apps, nursing applications, and nursing software for practicing nurses and students in nursing school.

Recommendations are based on real-world testing by myself (a new BSN graduate) and numerous interviews with nursing students and practicing nurses who have used these nursing apps and nursing applications for iPhone and iPod touch.

This web page has been tested with all modern web browsers at default settings. If the web page does not render properly, adjusting your web browser’s text/font size setting is the fix.




Professional Nursing Knowledge and Judgment Required

• This web page assumes that you have already read Go Student Nurse’s Nursing — iPhone iPod — The Definitive Guide which is also updated intermittently.
• Regardless of the publisher or developer, errors can exist.
• Nursing apps for iPhone or iPod touch will never be a substitute for professional nursing knowledge, experience, and judgment of the practicing nurse or student nurse.
• Verify that your facility or educational department approves an app before purchasing or using it.
• Cite references according to your department’s policies.
• The right and best app for you will depend on your unique requirements, specialty, and circumstances.
• Go Student Nurse recommendations may not suit every individual’s needs but serve as an informational and convenient resource that will guide you in making your purchases among the 100,000+ apps in the iTunes App Store.




iTunes App Store Buttons and Current Prices

You can support Go Student Nurse by using the iTunes App Store buttons provided which will conveniently take you directly to the recommended app in the U.S. iTunes App Store where you will find:

• current price
• details on features and updates
• screenshots
• links to the developer’s website
• customer support information
• hardware and software requirements
• customer ratings and reviews
• unique purchasing or subscription instructions if applicable

For software features that require Internet access, iPhone requires 3G or Wi-Fi, and iPod touch requires Wi-Fi.

The prices below are accurate at the time of the web page’s last update. Prices fluctuate constantly. Click the iTunes App Store Button for the app’s current price.

iPhone iPod touch Nursing Applications Suites Comparison

Nursing apps suites are expensive, and shopping and researching for the right suite to fit your needs can be frustrating and confusing.

Read all the fine print at each developer’s website and iTunes App Store page because each developer has different terms and conditions and different purchasing instructions and options.

Read the Professional Nursing Knowledge and Judgment Required section in this web page before making any purchase.




Unbound Medicine vs. Skyscape vs. Lexi-Comp vs. Epocrates

Skyscape’s Nursing Constellation Plus and Unbound Medicine’s Nursing Central are very similar. They both include:

• Davis’s Drug Guide for Nurses
• Diseases and Disorders: A Nursing Therapeutics Manual
• Davis’s Comprehensive Handbook of Laboratory and Diagnostic Tests with Nursing Implications
• Taber’s Cyclopedic Medical Dictionary




The Winner: Unbound Medicine’s Nursing Central

Nursing Central $159.99




Why it wins by a substantial margin for nursing students and many nurses:

• The iPhone and iPod touch apps are permanently functional even after the 12-month subscription for updates ends.
• Most importantly included in the price is 12 months of access to the Nursing Central website. In fact, the Nursing Central website existed even before the iPhone and iPod touch native apps, and it is an excellent online resource.
• The user interface mirrors Apple and iPhone’s design philosophy of productivity through simplicity and ease-of-use. In real-world use, this is significant.
• Drug and term audio pronunciations (requires Internet access).

Suggested improvements:

• Provide free-trial versions for both the native iPhone and iPod touch native apps and the Nursing Central website.
• Years ago, the Nursing Central website had a fully functional trial Open House. This is how we first discovered and tested Nursing Central.

Here is a completely confusing, convoluted, and inconvenient way to try out some Nursing Central website features before you buy:

• Visit DrugGuide.com and search for “acetaminophen” to try out Davis’s Drug Guide .
• Visit Unbound MEDLINE.
• Visit Taber’s Online for a completely crippled peek.
• The actual Nursing Central website user interface consolidates all these features and is easy to use and powerful. Again, they need to implement a free-trial version.




Individual Unbound Medicine iPhone and iPod touch Apps

If you prefer not to buy a nursing software suite, Go Student Nurse highly recommends Unbound Medicine’s Davis’s Drug Guide for Nurses and RNotes®.

Davis’s Drug Guide for Nurses $49.95

Excellent. Includes 12 months of access to DrugGuide.com.




RNotes® — Unbound $29.95

Excellent.




Tabers’s Medical Dictionary $49.95

Includes 12 months of access to Taber’s Online.




Davis’s Laboratory and Diagnostic Tests $49.99

Website access only available with Nursing Central suite.




Diagnosaurus DDx $0.99






Skyscape Nursing Apps — Confusing User Interface

Compared to Unbound Medicine and Lexi-Comp, Skyscape’s biggest downfall is its atrocious user interface for iPhone and iPod touch nursing software applications.

If the user interface looks cluttered and confusing, imagine what it’s like to use, especially in a fast-paced environment.

Can you guess which one is Skyscape in the images below?

Hint: Do you immediately know what I, A, Pk, CP, AE, Ix, Do, Im, UB or x stands for? Neither do we.

Click the image below for a larger view.

Go Student Nurse recommends the free Skyscape Medical Resources despite the horrible user interface. The free suite includes:

• Outlines in Clinical Medicine

Nice content.

• RxDrugs Drug Guide

Worthless for student nurses or nurses, especially compared to the excellent and free Epocrates Rx, which is discussed later in this web page.

• Archimedes Medical Calculator

Many more tools than Epocrate’s MedMath, but that horrid user interface.

Can you guess which one is Skyscape in the images below?

Here’s a hint: Numeric keys vs. QWERTY keys for a “cal-cue-lay-tor.” Also, compare the input field size.

Click the image below for a larger view.

• The nice thing about Skyscape is they offer many free-trial versions of their software.
• At their website and at the iTunes App Store, they have a large library of software applications that are not available elsewhere.
• On multiple occasions, we have found Skyscape’s customer service to be exceptional.
• Hopefully, they can address the user interface.
• Go Student Nurse does respect that many individuals may prefer Skyscape’s user interface approach and design.
• If you decide to purchase Skyscape nursing apps for iPhone or iPod touch, Go Student Nurse recommends the Standard Version over the Subscription Version. Also consider the SkyPlatinum Membership for $24.95. Be sure to read all the fine print when ordering.
• According to Skyscape’s excellent 24/7 online chat customer service, their apps on iTunes are the Standard Version.

Skyscape Medical Resources Free






Skyscape Nursing Constellation Plus $179.99






Lexi-Comp Nursing Apps — Best Free Trial

• Nice user interface similar to Unbound Medicine.
• Possible deal-breaker: All apps are subscriptions only. No permanent apps are available.
• Best feature: Free 30-day trial of all apps in the horribly named Lexi-Comp Individual Application, so you can decide if any app fits your needs or specialty.

Lexi-Comp Individual Application Free






Lexi-SELECT $219.99






Lexi-PEDIATRIC SUITE $179.99






Epocrates Rx — Best Free Nursing Reference App

Go Student Nurse describes this app in Nursing — iPhone iPod — The Definitive Guide.

All nurses and nursing students should install Epocrates Rx on their iPhone or iPod touch. It’s a nice cross-reference to Unbound Medicine’s Davis’s Drug Guide.

Epocrates Rx Free






Informed Publishing Nursing & Medical Reference Guides

Beautiful user interface. Concise and relevant content. Awesome price.

Go Student Nurse recommends the Informed Publishing apps using the iTunes links below.

(We do not recommend the Avatron Publishing PDF app versions that are also available in the iTunes App Store.)

Informed RN Pocket Guide $9.99

Excellent.




Informed Emergency & Critical Care Pocket Guide $9.99

Excellent.




More Nursing & Medical Reference Apps

Medscape Free

Excellent update.




Medical Encyclopedia Free

University of Maryland Medical System. Requires Internet access. Poor optimization: Slow.




Medical Abbreviations and Eponyms

Read the Professional Nursing Knowledge and Judgment Required section in this web page.

Download the Joint Commission’s The Official “Do Not Use” List of Abbreviations, and read with any of the recommended iPhone or iPod touch PDF readers which are described later in this web page.

It’s handy to have multiple medical abbreviation apps.

Medical Abbreviations $0.99

Integrates one-touch access to Wikipedia Mobile and Google.




MedAbbreviations $0.99

Integrates one-touch access to Wikipedia Mobile and Google.




Quick Medical Terminology and Abbreviation Reference $0.99

Nice.




Medical Terminology Aid $3.99

Same as above plus custom flashcards.




Eponyms (for students) Free

Medical terms derived from a person’s name.




Eponyms $1.99






Foreign Languages and Medical Audio Pronunciations

Follow your department’s certified medical interpreter policies.

Pocket Medical Spanish with Audio $4.99

Excellent.




Pocket Medical French with Audio $4.99

Excellent.




MedSpeak Cantonese Translator Lite Free






MedSpeak Cantonese Translator $14.99






MedSpeak Mandarin Translator Lite Free






MedSpeak Mandarin Translator $14.99






Drug Pronunciations Lite Free






Drug Pronunciations 2.99






Microbiology Pronunciations Lite Free






Microbiology Pronunciations 2.99






Maternal, Labor and Delivery, and OB Nursing App

Perfect OB Wheel $1.99

Easy to use. Worked great in my L&D rotation.




iPhone and iPod touch Games for Pediatric Nursing

These games really helped me with my pediatric clinical, but think carefully if you want to risk damaging or losing your expensive iPhone or iPod touch.

Talking Carl $0.99

One of my favorite apps. I learned about it from designer Alex Malkin’s funny video and tweet.




Pocket God $0.99

Kid pleaser at all ages.




Flight Control $0.99

Child and adult favorite.




Wallace & Gromit Free

Comic book.




Miscellaneous Nursing Apps

Blackbag Free

Medical News




GCS Free

Glasgow Coma Scale




STAT Adult Immunization Free

CDC immunization schedules for adults only.




STAT Immunization $4.99

CDC immunization schedules for children and adults.




You can also download CDC immunization schedules and read them with any of the recommended iPhone or iPod touch PDF readers which are described later in this web page.




Location Based Information Apps — Requires Internet

For restaurants, gas stations, supermarkets, hotels, etc. Many include reviews and directions. Nice for community nursing, travel nursing, and personal use.

AroundMe Free






MapQuest 4 Mobile Free






Urbanspoon Free

Fun.




Yelp Free






YPmobile Free

Yellow pages.




Personal Productivity Apps for Nurses and Nursing Students

BeejiveIM with Push $9.99

Integrated interface for multi-service instant messaging. Awesome.




Skype Free

Free Internet phone calls and instant messaging.




Units Free

Easy-to-use and free unit conversion app.




WeatherBug Free






Weatherbug Elite $0.99

Awesome weather app. Love it. No ads. More features.




Dictionary.com Free






My Lists $1.99

Simple, easy & cheap.




To Do Free

Simplest.




Things $9.99

Popular, feature-rich task management app.




Delivery Status touch, a package tracker $4.99

Great for online shoppers.




Notetaking Apps and PDF/Document/File Readers

This is one of the most important categories for me as a student, a reader, and a writer.

With many of the apps below, iPhone and iPod touch can store, read, and/or email MS Office, iWork ’09, PDF, HTML, RTF, RTFD, TXT, and image files. Be sure to read the specific app’s iTunes page for supported features.

PDF files are nice as they retain all formatting. If you use a Mac, PDF support is built into OS X by “printing” to create a PDF file. With OS X’s Preview app, you can manipulate PDF files. Although it’s expensive, Adobe Acrobat Professional is great for the power user.

I’m 95% paperless, and all my notes, lecture PowerPoints, and PDFs reside on my iPhone or iPod touch where I can review them while I’m standing in line, at the beach (tip: touchscreen works even through Ziploc bags), or just about anywhere.

My workflow revolves around Notebooks and Good Reader. These two apps can handle just about anything. The other apps have also been tested and work well. They are listed to give you more choices to meet your individual preferences or workflow needs.





Notebooks — Write Notes and Store Files $5.99

One of my favorite iPhone and iPod touch apps. It’s powerful and customizable. Go Student Nurse would not exist without this app. It has increased my productivity significantly. I use it for journaling, personal notes, and drafting all sorts of written content.

It stores, reads, and emails most types of files and has a robust file and folder management interface.

Alfons Schmid is the developer of Notebooks and his customer support is outstanding. I requested an option for adjustable colors for background and font colors for text files, and he delivered it in a subsequent update.





Good Reader (Large PDF Viewer) $0.99

Worth every dime. Amazingly powerful, stable, and fast. This app will handle nearly any PDF. Full of features: zoom, text search, bookmarks, orientation lock, scroll lock, passwords, and more. Although it can read many file types, it is the best app for PDF files, especially complex and large ones. Their customer support is also excellent.




Simplenote Free

Instant cloud sync and web browser access.




FileMagnet (Read, Email Documents) $4.99

My workhorse before I discovered Notebooks and Good Reader.




Air Sharing (View and Store Files) $2.99

Similar to FileMagnet.




Air Sharing Pro (Disk, Print, Email) $9.99

Same as Air Sharing with many more features.




Social Media Apps for Nurse and Nursing Student

Facebook Free






MySpace Mobile






Tumblr

I love Tumblr. Read Tumblr for Nurses and Nursing Students.

Tumblr Free






tumblr gear Free






Twitter for Nurses and Nursing Students

Twitter. It’s all about streams of consciousness and connectivity. It’s addictive and fun, especially with iPhone and iPod touch apps. Learn more about Twitter. Many apps below have Instapaper and TwitPic integration and allow easy management of multiple Twitter accounts.

The right Twitter app has much to do with personal preference.

SimplyTweet $4.99

Beautiful and simple. Twilight (black) theme. 2-5 minute push notifications. Multiple accounts.




Twitter Free

Excellent. Dealbreaker: No traditional retweet function.




Boxcar — Push Notifications

2 minute push notifications. Supports multiple accounts. Add services with a small one-time fee.




Twitterific Free

Nice.




Twitterific Premium $4.99

Same as free version, but without advertisements.




Twittelator Free

Feature-filled.




Twittelator Pro $4.99

Includes all features.




Echofon for Twitter Free

Good.




Echofon Pro for Twitter $4.99

Multiple accounts. More features.




Apps for Nurses and Nursing Students That Love to Read

Instapaper Pro is one of my favorite iPhone and iPod touch apps. It’s very easy to use, but a bit hard to describe. Read the Instapaper FAQ, and try out the free app below. Many RSS feeds are now on Twitter and work great with Go Student Nurse recommended iPhone and iPod touch apps for Twitter since they all have Instapaper integration.

Instapaper Free






Instapaper Pro $4.99

I love this app. Many extra features over free version.




There are many ebook apps available. What I use:

Kindle for iPhone Free






Classics $2.99






B&N Bookstore Free

Check inventory and reserve books at local stores.




Utility Apps

Best Camera $2.99

I love this app and philosophy: The Best Camera by Chase Jarvis website.




1Password Pro $14.99

A power user must-have, especially for Mac owners.




Speedtest.net Speed Test Free

Test your Wi-Fi, 3G, or EDGE speed.




MobileMe iDisk Free

For MobileMe subscribers.




Keynote Remote $0.99

For Keynote in Apple’s iWork ’09.




Remote Free

For iTunes and Apple TV.




Internet Radio Apps

Many iPhone and iPod touch radio apps are available. You can output the sound to your car or home stereo if you have an auxiliary input and the correct cable. Careful, these apps drain the battery fast. For the recommended car charger, read Nursing — iPhone iPod — The Definitive Guide.

For the best dance music, check out Energy 98. My favorite Internet radio station since 2003. They also have a weekly new dance music show called The Listening Room that is also available as a free weekly podcast.

SHOUTcast Radio Free

Thousands of free Internet radio streams.




TuneIn Radio $1.99

TiVo-like: listen/record/replay. Option to listen in background in Safari on iPhone.




Pandora Radio Free






Nursing Apps Not Rated by Go Student Nurse

Handbook of Nursing Diagnosis $39.99

Unbound Medicine




Merck Manuals $49.95 – 79.95

Unbound Medicine




Pocket Guide to Diagnostic Tests $39.99

Unbound Medicine




Cram Fighter: NCLEX-RN Edition $4.99

Customized NCLEX study scheduler.




American Heritage Desk $3.99






American Heritage Deluxe $34.99






Lipid Calc $0.99






CHADS2 Score Free






MedRef $0.99






Normal Lab Values $1.99






MedCalc Free






Acid Plus – The ABG Calculator $3.99






iMurmur 2 $2.99






Code Blue $.99






Search iTunes for More Nursing iPhone and iPod touch Apps

Click the iTunes button above and type the terms below in the iTunes search field for many more iPhone and iPod touch nursing apps, nursing applications, and nursing software for nurses, student nurses, and nursing school:

• anatomy
• ECG, EKG
• infuse, infusion
• IV
• Wikipedia
• dictionary
• USPS, UPS, FedEx
• UK iTunes: Nursing Jobs (free app)

This web page is updated intermittently:

• September 12, 2009 — MedAbbreviations.
• December 22, 2009 — BeejiveIM, AIM, Best Camera, Wallace & Gromit, and Tweetie 2.
• December 23, 2009 — Talking Carl. Thanks to Alex Malkin.
• January 6, 2010 — SimplyTweet.
• January 10, 2010 — Twittelator, TuneIn Radio, and Energy 98.
• May 25, 2010 — Unbound Medicine’s RNotes®, Informed Publishing Pocket Guides, Quick Medical Terminology and Abbreviation Reference, Skype, and Cram Fighter: NCLEX-RN Edition.