There’s an app for pretty much everything, so if you’re already relying on your iPhone or iPod Touch for most areas of your life, it will be a smooth transition to start using mobile technology to manage your health and your medications.
General medicine iPhone apps
Designed primarily for health care professionals, Epocrates (free) is a leader in medical industry software. This mobile drug reference resource offers access to thousands of drugs with included dosing information and adverse reactions. Users can also check drug interactions with up to 30 other drugs at a time and see close-up images of medications. A subscription to Epocrates Rx Pro runs $99 per year, but also includes over-the-counter and herbal medications and an infectious diseases guide. Medscape (free) from WebMD is an alternative to Epocrates and offers information on more than 6,000 generic and brand name drugs, along with herbals and supplements. You can save commonly accessed drugs to a favorites list for quick access, too.
Please note that these apps are not meant for diagnostic use, especially by non-professionals. However, we’ve all seen a medical drama on television and mistakes happen, so it’s not a bad idea to do your own research into drug interactions for medications that you or loved ones are taking.
iPhone apps to research niche drugs
PsychMeds (99 cents) doesn’t put its focus on how a drug interacts with others, but instead looks at what the medication does for its user. In the app, users can assign a rating to their current cognitive, emotional, physical and behavior symptoms. The results are represented in graph format to help you keep track of improvements or negative reactions. This type of tracking is key when it comes to medications, as pill reactions vary drastically among patients.
iPhone apps for planning prescriptions
DoubleCheck Rx ($2.99) was created to help patients ensure that they are getting the correct prescription in a sea of messy handwriting and similarly named products. The app shows the drug’s primary use, and also displays a few drugs that are often confused.
With Pillbox (free), users can create separate profiles for each member of their family. Enter the drug, the dosage and the time/days it should be taken, and the Pillbox display lets you know if you’ve yet to take the medicine. You can also enter in doctor contact information for each person for easy reference.
