Top 6 Best Medical Apps for Doctors, Patients & Students | 2017 Ranking | Most Reliable Medical Applications & Software

2017 RANKING & REVIEWS
TOP RANKING BEST MEDICAL APPS

Reviewing the Best Medical Apps and Medical Software

Medical professionals, medical students, and patients have tens of thousands of apps and software programs to choose from, which provide a range of informative resources and tools.

Some of the things that can be managed with medical applications include:

• Reference
• Medical education
• EMR
• Patient monitoring
• Patient education and care
• Imaging

Using the best medical apps and medical software can help doctors, nurses, and other care providers diagnose and manage patient information, and they can serve as resources for things such as diseases, conditions, and also medications. Medical apps for patients can help empower patients to be more knowledgeable about their health, among other purposes.

Award Emblem: Top 6 Best Medical Apps for Doctors, Patients & Students

The following ranking and review covers some of the top medical apps for doctors and medical apps that can also be used by students and patients.

Each review of the medical apps focuses on the benefits and the unique features that let the medical applications stand apart from the extensive competition.

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AdvisoryHQ’s List of the Top 6 Best Medical Apps

List is sorted alphabetically (click any of the medical app names below to go directly to the detailed review section for that medical app):

• DailyRounds
• Epocrates
• Medscape
• Medical Wikipedia
• Prognosis
• UpToDate

Top 6 Best Medical Apps | Brief Comparison

Detailed Overview of Medical Applications in Healthcare

There has been tremendous growth in the areas of medical software and medical apps for doctors, as well as general medical applications.

So why the influx of these medical apps?

One of the primary reasons medical software and the best medical apps are so popular is because they provide the ability to lower the cost of healthcare while giving more value and better outcomes and service to patients.

Image Source: Pexels

The use of medical software and the best medical apps allows not only doctors, but also nurses and medical students to access information quickly and on the go, and it saves valuable time and money throughout the healthcare industry.

Many of even the largest healthcare and insurance companies such as Cigna and UnitedHealthcare are embracing the use of medical software and top medical apps because of the many benefits.

Additionally, the best medical apps and general medical apps for doctors are useful to improve essential communication between care providers and patients, and clinical data can be shared securely and efficiently in healthcare centers and hospitals.

Some of the general categories of medical software and top medical apps include pharmacy and drug management, chronic care management, pregnancy and childbirth, general medical news and information, and records management.

AdvisoryHQ’s Selection Methodology

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Please click here “AdvisoryHQ’s Ranking Methodologies” for a detailed review of AdvisoryHQ’s selection methodologies for ranking top-rated credit cards, financial accounts, firms, products, and services.

Detailed Review—Top Ranking Medical Applications

Below, please find the detailed review of each of the best medical apps. We have highlighted some of the factors that allowed each medical app to score so well in our selection ranking.

DailyRounds Review

DailyRounds is a medical app designed to help doctors and care providers make evidence-based treatment decisions, and it’s available on Google Play and the App Store.

Key Factors That Led to Our Ranking of This as One of the Best Medical Apps

Features and benefits of this medical information app and doctors app are below.

Clinical Cases

This leader among medical software and medical apps features clinical cases, designed to be the best possible learning tool for both physicians and medical students.

With this medical app, clinical cases are presented in a journal, and each is curated by a team of 120 doctors. The clinical cases included in this doctors app and medical app for students are designed to cover real things faced by care providers instead of just the rarest cases.

Since all the information provided on DailyRounds is peer reviewed and must meet a strict editorial policy, content is up to date and free of errors.

Medical Events

In addition to having clinical cases that are valuable to students and doctors, Daily Rounds also includes coverage of national and international medical events such as Dermacon, CSICON, and APICON.

Also included in this medical app is the most up-to-date information about drugs and drug interactions.

Free

This valuable and carefully curated medical information app is also one of the free medical apps on this list. It’s open and entirely free.

There are no subscriptions, no advertisements, and no in-app purchases.

Image Source: Google Play

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Epocrates Review

Epocrates is a comprehensive medical app that can be used by both patients and doctors and is part of the AetnaHealth company.

Key Factors That Led to Our Ranking of This as One of the Best Medical Apps

Specific features of Epocrates, one of the best medical apps, are below.

Drug Information

Epocrates is often ranked as the number one medical reference app, and one of the areas it covers is drug information. Users can explore drug prescribing and safety information for thousands of brands, as well as generic and OTC drugs. This best medical app for doctors can also be used by students and patients.

Some of the drug information features this best medical app includes are:

• Adult and pediatric dosing for FDA-approved drugs and off-label instructions and indications
• Black box warnings
• Contraindications
• Adverse reactions and drug interactions
• Safety and monitoring
• Pharmacology including metabolism, excretion, subclass, and mechanism of action
• Manufacturer
• DEA/FDA status
• Approximate retail price

Discounts

Epocrates is not one of the free medical apps or medical software platforms on this ranking, but they do offer a variety of discount options.

For example, there are discounts for institutions and medical schools, so everyone on an intuition’s network can get access to premium clinical intelligence at an exclusive group rate.

Other Features

Other features of Epocrates, one of the best medical apps and a leader among medical apps for doctors include:

• Identify pills by imprint code and physical markings
• Timely medical news
• Research information is available
• Users can find providers for consults and referrals using the provider directory
• Options to select national and regional healthcare insurance formularies for drug coverage
• Do calculations including GFR and BMI
• Coordinate care with HIPAA-compliant text messaging
• Disease information
• Clinical practice guidelines
• Lab guides
• Coding information

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Medscape Review

Medscape is a top resource for all things related to medical news and information, drugs and diseases, and general education. It’s a website that also features medical app options. The Medscape app is designed to provide quick clinical answers at the point of care and is for use by physicians, nurses, medical students, and other medical professionals.

Key Factors That Led to Our Ranking of This as One of 2017’s Best Medical Apps

Among medical apps for doctors and the top medical apps, the following are specific ways Medscape excels.

Cost

First and foremost, Medscape is one of the free medical apps on this ranking. Users login the first time they use it, and they can register for a free account directly on the app.

Along with being one of the top free medical apps, this is one of the leading medical apps for doctors for a range of other key reasons.

Procedure Reference

This leader among medical apps for doctors includes the ability to read detailed instructions for more than 1,000 clinical procedures. These clinical procedures also include videos for visual demonstrations and representation.

In addition, this pick for one of the best medical apps for doctors includes disease and condition references. Users of this leading medical application can read the latest information including clinical presentation, workup, and treatment information for thousands of diseases and conditions.

There are also tens of thousands of clinical images integrated into the app for diagnostic and decision-making support.  

Drug References

As one of the best medical apps for doctors and medical students, this medical application includes drug references for thousands of brand-name, generic, and OTC drugs, as well as supplements. It features adult and pediatric dosing, as well as guidelines for pregnancy.

There is also the ability to check mild to severe drug interactions for up to 30 drugs, as well as herbals and supplements.

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Medical Wikipedia Review

Medical Wikipedia offers a collection of healthcare articles and other information powered by Kiwix.

Key Factors That Led to Our Ranking of This as One of the Best Medical Apps

Key reasons Medical Wikipedia is one of the best medical apps and a leading medical information app are below.

Suitable for Anyone

What’s great about this medical application is that it’s usable and relevant for anyone. For example, this can be a doctors app, but it could also be useful to medical students as well as patients.

It’s a medical app that provides general information that can be useful for an incredibly wide variety of purposes, and that flexibility is an important reason it’s part of this ranking of medical applications.

Accessible

Once you download this top medical application, the information is available whenever and wherever you are, without Internet access. This means this medical information app can be accessed whether you’re in the developing world or the middle of nowhere, as well as if you’re in a major city.

It’s also one of the free medical apps included in this ranking.

This medical application is also available in several different languages.

Medical Encyclopedia

Essentially this useful medical information app is an accessible, comprehensive, informative medical encyclopedia.

It’s user-friendly and provides in-depth information and terminology that could be helpful to any users, as well as images and other information.

It includes healthcare articles as well as disease, medication, anatomy, and sanitation information.

Prognosis Review

Prognosis is an app featuring case scenarios across specialties, ideal for doctors and medical students as well as other care providers.

Key Factors That Led to Our Ranking of This as One of 2017’s Best Medical Apps for Doctors

Reasons Prognosis is included in this ranking of the top medical apps for doctors and the best overall medical applications are below.

Scenarios

This app is unique from the other medical applications and top medical apps included in this ranking. This is one of the best medical apps for doctors because it features short yet in-depth scenarios. It allows care providers to test their decision-making abilities in a risk-free environment, learn about diseases, and assess their clinical knowledge even when they’re on the go.

This pick for a leading doctors’ app is game-like in its structure and scenarios, and each scenario takes only a few minutes to play.

Real-Life Basis

Each of the scenarios presented in this pick for one of the top medical apps for doctors is based on a real-life case and real patients. Each is reviewed by an editorial panel of more than 130 specialist physicians from more than 30 specialties as well.

The objective of this leader among medical applications and medical apps for doctors is to help care providers develop and maintain clinical skills, without the risk that comes with failure in a real clinic.

Accolades

Prognosis has consistently been recognized as one of the top medical apps, and one of the leading medical apps for doctors.

It is the number one ranked medical application in the U.S., was called “Dr. House for Doctors,” by Discovery magazine, and was named one of the five best apps for doctors by the Royal College of Surgeons of England.

UpToDate Review

UpToDate is a physician-authored clinical decision support resource, used by millions of health providers around the world to improve the care of patients.

Key Factors That Led to Our Ranking of This as a 2017 Best Medical Software and Medical Applications Product

Features and advantages of UpToDate, one of the top options in terms of medical software and doctors apps, are below.

Improved Outcomes

According to Wolters Kluwer, the company who created UpToDate, this is the only resource of its type among medical software and medical apps for doctors linked by research to improved outcomes. The company says more than 80 research studies have confirmed that usage of UpToDate has been associated with improved patient care and hospital performance.

A research study published in the Journal of Hospital Medicine in 2011 showed hospitals using this medical application and support resource had shortened hospitals stays, fewer deaths, and better performance.

Mobile App Features

UpToDate is available in a variety of ways, but the mobile app has specific features not available with the medical software version. This doctors app includes the following features and benefits:

• Bookmarks and history
• Persistent login
• Auto-completion searches
• Earning and tracking free CME/CE/CPD credit
• Medical calculators optimized for mobile
• Options to print and email topics and graphics
• Search in your own language

Comprehensive Information

This top pick among medical applications and the best medical apps for doctors includes full UpToDate clinical content.

This includes more than 10,500 physician topics and 9,600 graded recommendations. It also includes 5,800 distinctive drug monographs.

UpToDate registered subscribers and users can install this medical app on up to two devices free of charge, and it’s available in most countries.

Image Source: iTunes

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Conclusion—Top 6 Best Medical Apps

The above ranking and review covers the best medical software, the best medical apps for doctors, and the overall best medical apps.

Each of the medical applications and top medical apps included in this ranking delivers valuable medical information including topics such as drug interactions, conditions, and even instructional content.

This comprehensive review of the leading medical applications focuses on medical apps for doctors, but what’s great about most of these top medical apps is that they could also prove valuable for medical students, nurses, and other care providers, and individuals who want to learn more about their health and medical treatment.

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