Let me begin by saying that I am extremely semi-qualified to review this app. I can discuss the base functionality of the app, and therefore give a rough estimate as to which medically calculating app might feel better to use or look better, however I am not qualified at all in the field of medicine. So therefore, for the sake of argument, we are going to assume that all of the equations and calculations within this app are correct. For all of you med students and hospital personnel who are still reading, I present MedCalc by M.Tschopp & P.Pfiffner (Free in the app store, MedCalc Pro: $7.99).
Tap the app, and in short order you will find yourself on the Info section of the lower navigation bar. At the top of the page are three buttons: About, Help and News. You begin on the About page. Here is a disclaimer regarding that app and a brief rundown of important people related to the app. The Help page will give you a brief description of the main functions of the app, and then direct you to the web site for further study. The News page is the MedCalc Twitter feed.
All the way to the left of the nav bar is the All Formulas section. Here is an alphabetical list of all the formulas found within the app. Next, you have your Favorites section, which is where all of your “starred” formulas will be kept for quick reference. After that, you have your Categories section, where each of the formulas are broken down into categories, such as Cardiology, Nurses, Pediatrics, etc. This list is also alphabetized. Finally, there is a Go Pro section, which gives you the opportunity to upgrade to the pro version ($7.99). The pro version offers iPad compatibility and a patient database.
I messed around with some of the equations that required simple things like height and weight (because I know the answer to those). However, knowing that my BMI is 26.4 kg/m^2 doesn’t really help me because I have no practical understanding of what a kilogram is. While you can change the input values to the English Standard system of measurement, the result is always in the metric system. Perhaps this is because the medical industry only measures in the metric system? (I wish they could get the rest of America to do that, because then 26.4 kg/m^2 would make sense to me).
Now that I have thoroughly proved my ignorance in this field, I’ll stop. The app functions as apps should. It even has a History function for recalling data entered into the fields, making re-inputting data extremely easy. Hey, it’s free. If you think you would actually use this, why not download it and find out!
