App review: Epocrates, PubMed Mobile, iStethoscope, and Cancer.net

Each month, Tim Scorer looks at how sales and marketing execs can use apps to change behavior, add value, and connect. This month, he rates Epocrates, PubMed Mobile, iStethoscope, and Cancer.net

By Tim Scorer on Jun 1, 2011

The buzz surrounding Android is well and truly here-great phones, iPhone-chasing market share, and solid app proliferation. So this column concentrates on three absolute corkers and one dog of an iPhone-ready app. The framework for this column is pretty straightforward-healthcare apps assessed across four criteria

· ease of use

· focus

· insight

· platform diversity

Epocrates

It's free; it works across iPhone and Android; and healthcare professionals love it. Epocrates is pretty much the essential drug reference. Even agency side, we use this to help us daily when writing documents and checking out interactions. There's not a medic or pharmacist who doesn't struggle to keep up to date, and it's unreasonable to expect MIMS to accompany you everywhere. Functionally, this is mum-proof. It's a doodle to learn and it's packed with features, from dosage calculators and interaction warnings to the delightful pill checked. The boss of all drug reference apps.

PubMed Mobile

If you are substantiation hungry and need the latest evidence at your fingertips, then PubMed Mobile is a very good place to start. This would have saved me hours in my first job, trawling online and visiting libraries to reference slides for key opinion leaders. If you regularly need to check a reference, hunt down an abstract, or even share findings via Facebook, this could be your new best friend. It's available across iPhone and Android, works seamlessly, and follows much of the online architecture, making it somewhat intuitive for old hands.

iStethoscope

Replacing stethoscopes with iPhones, surely not? This app seeks to use the in-built microphone to place on key points on your chest. The sound is then amplified and you are left to detect pathologies from the resulting output. It's a great idea, but falls flat on its face when faced with chunky patients or anyone not expert at placing a phone at an exact orientation on a body. Sitting with a couple of doctor pals, the quality of sound seems inadequate and muffled. Also, I am not sure where infection control sits with this. Its pretty useless, more gimmick than device. An absolute turkey.

Cancer.net app

The American Society of Clinical Oncology has released a gem of a freebie. Targeting cancer patients, it allows them and their family members to tailor information based on cancer type. It provides a wealth of information via videos, podcasts, and articles. It's beyond this functionality that the app gets really valuable. It provides users with the ability to store questions, therapy, and symptoms. These are then taken and form the basis for all the information at your disposal-a truly brilliant app, and a must-have for any patient or family member.

Tim Scorer (tim.scorer@hivehealth.com) is one of the owners of a group of companies consisting of the patient centric communications agency Hive (hivehealth.com) and digital innovation company eBee (ebeehealth.com). Tim welcomes suggestions for apps to review. For more of Tim Scorer's app reviews, see ‘App review: Getting to grips with apps'.