App Wrap: 8 Great Apps for Pharmacists

Make your mobile device work for you with these practical tools for research, patient counseling, and professional development.

Pharmacy Times iPad Edition

Download the Pharmacy Times iPad edition to swipe and tap your way through insightful columns from the print issue, including OTC and Rx Focus, Pharmacy Law, Drug Diversion and Abuse, Continuing Education, and more. Each article is enhanced for the iPad with bonus links to video, podcasts, and other multimedia resources selected to help you explore the issues impacting your profession. Reader favorites Case Studies and Can You Read These Rxs? are also included in every edition, with an interactive spin that lets you test your skills. Downloaded issues are archived in the app, helping you build a library of resources to turn to as you launch your pharmacy career.

Price: Free

Compatible with: iPad

Download: http://phrmcyt.ms/bM5Y3x

Boost your pharmacy IQ with the Pharmacy CPE app, a convenient source of mobile CE from the Pharmacy Times Office of Continuing Professional Education. Free for registered users, the app brings Pharmacy Times’ robust catalog of CE activities to the palm of your hand. Browse within the app for Webinars, case studies, and lessons that pique your interest, then complete courses for credit directly on your mobile device and print certificates on the go. Pharmacy CPE also connects you to PharmacyTimes.com for upto-date information on pharmacy news and trends.

Price: Free

Compatible with: iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad

Download: http://phrmcyt.ms/bqMER0

Medibabble

Pharmacists practicing in diverse communities face language barriers on a regular basis. MediBabble is a free, easy-to-use medical translation tool designed to bridge the gaps and improve care for non—English speaking patients. It includes thousands of simple clinical questions and instructions written and reviewed by a panel of physicians, with a special focus on evaluating the patient’s medical history. Tapping a question or instruction in English plays the question out loud in the patient’s language. For noisy environments or to communicate with hearing-impaired patients, phrases can also be displayed in large text. MediBabble is currently available in 5 languages, including Spanish, and requires no 3G or Internet connection to run.

Price: Free

Compatible with: iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad

Download: http://phrmcyt.ms/r7WnRP

Research more efficiently with Citelighter, a free toolbar for Mozilla Firefox that helps you keep track of every scrap of information you find online. As you cruise PubMed, read journal articles in Google Books, or look up drug information, use Citelighter to highlight quotes and capture citation information. Log in to Citelighter’s dashboard from any computer to organize saved clips, print your research, or start building an outline or bibliography for your next project.

Price: Free

Compatible with: Mozilla Firefox

Download: http://phrmcyt.ms/mQ9VIf

Adherence coaching is about empowering patients to take charge of their medication regimen, and Dosecast is a user-friendly app that can help. Patients enter basic information about drugs they take—including the name, dosage, scheduling, and special instructions—and set up reminders to sound on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis. Reminders can also be set to sound within a specific time frame, for example, 4 hours after a dose is taken. These and other basic features are included in the free version; for an additional $3.99, the app sends reminders without an Internet connection, tracks a wider variety of dosage forms, and enables dose history logging and refill alerts.

Price: Free (basic version); $3.99 (full version)

Compatible with: iPhone and iPad

Download: http://phrmcyt.ms/jNxAUJ

Brush up on your pharmacology knowledge with this practical study aid. Launched by the makers of Davis’s Drug Guide for Nurses, Mobile Pharm Phlash! includes key facts on 389 of the most frequently prescribed generic drugs. Each flash card highlights relevant drug features, including trade names, phonetic spelling, indications, off-label uses, mechanisms of action, side effects, safety information, and patient counseling points. Users can also tap an audio link to hear the drug’s name pronounced—good preparation for those moments when patients and physicians expect you to be a walking drug encyclopedia.

Price: $19.99

Compatible with: iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad; Android devices

Download: http://phrmcyt.ms/oSc7bC

Prescription orders that include the patient’s diagnosis can help you deliver better education and counseling, but not if you’re forced to spend inordinate amounts of time looking up a diagnosis code. ICD9 On the Go is a simple app that makes searching for ICD9-CM codes a snap. Updated to 2011, the mobile database lets users search for a specific code, browse groups of codes by disorder, keep a list of favorites, and share codes by e-mail.

Price: $2.99

Compatible with: iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad

Download: http://phrmcyt.ms/oNJW1t

Powered by LinkedIn, CardMunch helps you turn opportunities into real connections by capturing business cards you collect through internships, classes, conferences, and other events where pharmacists congregate. When someone hands you a business card, snap a picture on your phone and CardMunch adds the information to your mobile Rolodex for future reference. You can also immediately invite your new contact to connect with you on LinkedIn, ensuring that your name is fresh in their minds when the perfect job or internship opportunity becomes available.

Price: Free

Compatible with: iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad; coming soon to BlackBerry

Download: http://phrmcyt.ms/q5ecxq