What’s ‘app’ening?
By Bridget Higginbotham
Why carry heavy reference guides or cumbersome flash cards when you have a smart phone? Apps aren’t just for fun, anymore. Students and professionals use them to access valuable information from the classroom, clinic or bus. Here are a few HSC students suggest:
Devices: iPhone/iPod touch
Cost: $16.99
This app allows users to rotate the body and peel away layers to study 1,000 muscles and even quiz themselves. First-year physical therapy student Caroline Bergh finds it helpful for reviewing structures for her gross anatomy class. 3D4Medical also makes apps for the skeletal, cardiovascular, urogenital, digestive and nervous systems.
Devices: iPhone/iPod touch/iPad, Palm weboS, android, Blackberry, Windows mobile 6
Cost: Packages from $75 to $285
All 23 databases can be downloaded with the comprehensive Lexi-COMPLETE app ($285) for constant access to information on infectious diseases, household and natural products, drug interactions, diagnostic procedures and more. Individual databases such as the No. 1 ranked Lexi- Drugs can be downloaded for $75 each. “It’s nice to have those things in class,” said Annie Tram, a third-year pharmacy student, who prefers Lexi-Comp to Medscape. “It’s really fast and easy to scroll. It filters the information for you.”
Devices: iPod touch, iPhone
Cost: Free
This free app by Epocrates challenges users to identify images of diseases quickly and accurately. “I take the bus to school, and so it is just a fun thing to do to pass the time and starts me thinking about how to recognize certain diseases,” said Jessie Cirolia, a first-year family Doctor of Nursing Practice student.