In this edition of Tech Notes, I look at three exciting medical apps for doctors. One is a pediatric patient management app that manages to be one of the best pediatric focused apps ever released; one puts a dermatologist in your pocket; and the other helps with a key area of women’s health.
PedsGuide
The PedsGuide medical app is created and developed by Children’s Mercy Hospital in Kansas City. What separates PedsGuide from other traditional pediatric patient management applications is how specific it is. The medical app doesn’t cover 30 different pathologies; it focuses on just two types of presentations of pediatric patients: the febrile infant and the child with an asthma exacerbation.
The important thing to realize is that these two presentations alone consist of a large portion of pediatric patient population presentations. Further, these specific types of presentations often present variability in practice.
I cannot emphasize enough how stunning the user interface and overall medical functionality of this app is.
The PedsGuide is one of the best-designed medical decision pathway apps ever created. It bundles chief complaint, assessment calculators, checklists, treatment recommendations and re-evaluation protocols all into one app. Children’s Mercy Hospital should be proud of the work they have done with this app, and other medical app developers should take notice.
An important note: It is critical that this application should not trump your own hospital’s and local practice standards for the management of these specific patient presentations.
AOCD Dermatology Database App Review
The Dermatology Database medical app by the American Osteopathic College of Dermatology is one of the most exciting apps to be released this year. It has more than 300 dermatologic pathologies detailed out with several pictures and specific treatments.
When you open the app, you’re presented with three sections: diseases, drugs and procedures. In the diseases section, you can search for specific pathologies. When you find what you’re looking for, you’re given multiple pictures of that pathology with the ability to zoom in on the pictures, and a brief description of the disease. The drugs section of the app shows applications for particular drugs as well as the side effects.
I am a huge fan of the detailed pictures, user interface, and the wealth of information provided. However, there are two specific areas the app could have improved. It would be great to see a section focused on primary care, urgent care and emergency medicine; and it could have improved its references. There are great review articles on each of the pathologies mentioned, and a simple PubMed reference to key journal papers would have been a great feature to include.
Johns Hopkins Menopause Guide
In 2002, the Women’s Health Initiative, the first randomized trial to directly look at the effect of estrogen plus progestin in relation to coronary heart disease, published remarkable results. The results showed overall health risks exceeded benefits of using combined estrogen plus progestin in healthy postmenopausal U.S. women.
These are the types of studies and treatment discussions the Johns Hopkins Menopause Guide, created with Unbound Medicine, addresses.
The guide goes through critical research studies related to women who are post menopause, perimenopause, and early menopause, and goes through all the major critical treatment options for this patient population.
The treatment section alone has more than 15 various drug therapies mentioned that treat a variety of postmenopausal conditions. The symptoms section is the part of the app that medical providers will use most.
September 1, 2017
Iltifat Husain, M.D.
