The Top 10 iPad Apps for Your Practice

Apple has sold more than 3.5 million iPad apps since the device’s launch on April 3rd. Great for Apple and techies everywhere, but what does this mean for the healthcare industry?

Nothing…yet. Though there are currently 80 apps listed under the Medical section of the iPad apps store, most are converted iPhone apps, and those that were created as dedicated iPad apps, are not game changers.

To be sure, a few, like Skeletal System and Muscle System Pro, take advantage of the iPads screen real estate to present excellent visuals, but that killer medical app is still waiting to see the light of day.

In fairness, the iPad just hit the market, so this isn’t meant as a criticism of developers, just a state-of-the-market sort of thing. So while we wait for it to hit the App Store, here are the best of the best for your money, your practice, and your life, as it stands right now.

Medical

The Skeletal System ProPrice: $19.99

Memory: 44.9MB

Average App Store Rating: Not enough ratings to display an average

Designed for medical students and professionals alike, this app allows the user to “zoom in and identify any region, bone, bone part, or ligament,” and “rotate the bone or region for anterior, lateral, posterior, and medial views. Inferior and superior views are available where appropriate. X-ray and skin views are also available.” Over 350 images are available with labels in both English and Latin.

The Muscle System ProPrice: $19.99

Memory: 57.6MB

Average App Store Rating: 5 stars (2 ratings)

See above, but replace “bone” and “ligament” with muscle. This app also allows you to use the scalpel button to remove each layer of muscle in order to reveal “deeper muscles (up to 7 layers).”

MedCalc 3000 Complete EditionPrice: $9.99

Memory: 1.6MB

Average App Store Rating: Not enough ratings to display an average

The iPad version of MedCalc 3000 “mirrors the web-based resource http://MedCalc3000.com.” As one reviewer states, “MedCalc 3000 seems to have every calculator ever made for the iPhone, but all in one App,” and there are more than 500 available, from basic calculators and unit/dose converters (Water Deficit in Hypernatremia) and statistical models (Acetaminophen Toxicity Assessment), to embedded data tables (Jones Criteria), clinical criteria sets and decision tree modules (Ottawa and Pittsburgh Orthopedic Rules).

Mediforms EMR LitePrice: FREE

Memory: 0.2MB

Average App Store Rating: 1.5 stars (37 ratings)

Even though the name sound enticing, don’t waste your time with this one. But don’t take our word for it. Read what these reviewers had to say:

1. “This is a totally useless piece of software if you want to put it to serious use. However, bundled with a plastic stethoscope it could make a great kids’ toy…”
2. “Horrible, confusing, waste of time.”
3. “Pen and a blank sheet of paper are far superior!”

Organizational

PapersPrice: $14.99

Memory: 4.2MB

Average App Store Rating: 4.5 stars (56 ratings)

Puts “your entire research literature database in your pocket.” If you so desire, the integrated PDF-viewer and notation function can eliminate the clutter of paper print-outs entirely. The developers recommend “at least 100MB of free space for storage of PDFs and article metadata.”

Instapaper ProPrice: $4.99

Memory: 3.9MB

Average App Store Rating: 4.5 stars (143 ratings)

No time to read that story about the risks of the genetically engineered mangoes you have sitting on the counter at home? Save it, and any others, for later with Instapaper. All stories are dictionary searchable and can be sent to Tumblr and Twitter.

Presentations

OmniGraphSketcherPrice: $14.99

Memory: 4.0MB

Average App Store Rating: 4 stars (20 ratings)

Quickly create freehand graphs and “sketch recognition turns whatever you draw into a smooth curve.” Touch the graph and you can immediately add “text labels, colors, shapes, dashes, arrows, and tick marks.” Your data will become a rich, visually appealing representation in minutes.

NotabilityPrice: $8.99

Memory: 5.6MB

Average App Store Rating: 4 stars (15 ratings)

Not so much for giving presentations as for taking notes during one. While recording the presentation with the iPad’s built-in microphone, you can add unlimited notes in the left-hand navigation. Notability automatically time stamps and summarizes each note for easy browsing, as well as syncs each note to the recording as it’s played back. Need verification on information? Use the web note to check quickly.

Storage

Air Sharing HDPrice: $9.99

Memory: 11.7MB

Average App Store Rating: 4.5 stars (8 ratings)

Turns your iPad into a wireless hard drive. Mount it to your computer and drag and drop movies, audio, images, text documents, web archives, Microsoft Office and iWork files, and more. The application also “auto-detects other users on the same Wi-Fi network [and] connects to Air Sharing or Air Sharing Pro on another device” for file sharing purposes.

Social Media

TwitterifficPrice: FREE

Memory: 3.1MB

Average App Store Rating: 4.5 stars (859 ratings)

This is your basic all-in-one Twitter functionality aggregator (think Thwirl or Tweetdeck). The program allows you to manage multiple Twitter accounts, filter for specific tweet types and trends, browse conversation threads and more. The current version comes highly rated (4 ½ stars out of 6).