Top 5 Android Apps for Indian Doctors

When I bought my first Smart Phone three years back and started using the popular Medical App Epocrates most of my seniors and colleagues disapproved its use . Though most of them have never used it  but as it happens with anything new  they were sceptic about these Medical Apps  which looked too interesting to be reliable when compared with Classic (and often  Boring and confusing  ) Text Books.

Though these apps may never supplement text books but they have a place of their own when it comes to utility . Moreover  with the Information revolution things are changing very fast !

I take this opportunity to present my  Top 5 medical apps  in my three years experience with Android .

You can download all these app for free in Google /Android Play Store

Have a look at this Apps and suggest some other interesting App you use in the comments section.

The Rank List 
1 Epocrates
2 Healthkart Plus
3 BurnCare Burn Calculator
4 QxMD Calculate
5 Speed Anatomy (game)
and AIIMS Poison Information Centre Number.

Rank 1   The All in One App : EPOCRATES 

What is it :

 Its arguably the Most popular Medical App in USA .

It has sections like

Drug Information:   here  you can find drug dose , adverse effect , indications etc 

Doc alert : This section updates new medical news , guidelines, studies etc
Interaction Checker :  here you can check drug to drug interactions between all the drugs you are delivering to your patient

Disease Reference : This is the best thing I like about Epocrates . its gives objective and practical information about a disease condition , its also gives treatment guide as per the Clinical Situation

Tables : contains ACLS /BLS PALS ATLS and other Important algorithms

The app also includes a pill identifier, lab test section , medical calculator (for BMI, MAP ,  APACHE2 etc ) and many other must have features

Pros :

1 Information provided is practical, objective , clinics oriented  and is the physicians best friend for day to day use . Its a MUST HAVE app for any Medico with a Smartphone

2 You can access all the information offline

Cons :

The free version is a trial version for one month , after one month some feature (most notably Disease Reference) is gone  !  - however there is a simple trick to keep it going with full features – all you need to do is to uninstall it and reinstall it after one month with a different email  address (they don’t verify the email address) – this extra effort is worth doing for such a useful app.

Installing Instruction : 

The installing though simple is sometimes  troublesome for new users , follow these steps

1 download from Google play for free

2 Register  following the instruction in the page but remember 2 vital things

      A The password should contain one capital Letter (upper case ) one small letter (lower case ) and a number

     B  When they ask you for profession don’t  choose “ Physician “ choose a non clinical profession  like Research Associate etc , this is because once you choose Physician they will prompt you to verify your status – though they give an option for skipping verification at times the program hangs

3 Choose the  Epocrates Essential  free option

 After this the program will download clinical content – this step will take some time – 15 mins to 30 mins depending on your connection

4 After download process is complete a screen will come prompting you to re register – don’t do anything just wait – after 1  minute with no response from you the app will start by its own .

The popularity of epocrates has prompted many other similar apps like Medscape , Web MD etc But  till date none has been as specific and objective as Epocrates .

Rank 2 HealthKart Plus

What is it ?

 Its an online alternative to Drug books  like Drug today , Rx News etc

This simple Indian App gives you information about the cost of almost any  drug in India , along with the price of other brands with the same composition . There is also an option of Buy the drug online from your local distributor .The prices are far less than general pharmacy shops

Pros : Free  Simple , Fast and Useful

Cons : You need to be online to use this App,

Rank 3 BurnCare Burn Calculator

What is it : Are you always confident of Using the Rule of Nines to accurately  estimate the body surface area in a burn patent ? if Not this is the app for you:

Simply enter patient details like age sex height , Use  your finger in the touch screen to show the area burned   - the app will automatically calculate the Body surface area , use Parkland and other burn formulas to give you the amount of fluid you need to Transfuse !!( both adult and Peadiatric)

-          A very Innovative and useful app – in my personal experience I have seen that their calculation is very accurate and is preferable to estimation by a non-Burn Specialist using the rule of Nines . You can use the App offline .

Rank 4  Calculate by QxMD

Its an all in one calculator for all the medical Scorings you can think of eg GCS, APACHE2 , CRUB2 , Geneva Score for PE , CHAD2 for AF etc ...the Data base is really vast !

Its Developed by collaboration of clinical experts from diverse backgrounds. It has detailed references with Pubmed integration and provides comprehensive and insightful results for both medical health professionals and patients.

Select from any of its numerous calculators, grouped together for easy access. Choose whatever fits your current needs, such as general calculators, those specifically for cardiology, and many more.

The app provides tools to reduce and predict perioperative, guide treatment, determine prognosis, dose, calculate, classify, manage, stage, understand and diagnose.

Rank 5 Speed Anatomy

If you are weak in Anatomy like me ,try this game .. Its fun.

The app is an addictive game that

tests your speed and challenges your knowledge of human anatomy.The faster and more precise you can point to a liver, a gallbladder or an incisor, the more points you earn. When you hold your finger over an image, a magnifying glass appears which allows you to achieve more precision and higher scores.Speed Anatomy Quiz Free contains 28 levels, including an overview of bones, muscles, arteries, veins, the respiratory system and much more..It starts with basic level but as you climb up things get tougher.

They also have versions for Neuro Anatomy and Blood vessels at a nominal price (Around Rs 200)

Useful Number

AIIMS Poison Information Centre Number:

 (011) 26593677, 26589391, 26583282

24 X 7 hotline  for Toxicology Related Cases

If you have any queries about any Toxicilogy case you can consult an Expert for Free ...Give them description of the poison( colour brand name ) they will tell you what it is and what to do.

From my past experience in  AIIMS I can say that the phone operator is  not a certified Toxicologist but has very good knowledge in Toxicology and  has 24 x 7 access to a toxicologist  in case the need arises.

By Dr Sourabh Pathak