Medical Apps in Pediatrics

BiliTool isn't an app. It's a website that uses the 2004 AAP guidelines to help you figure out if newborns are low risk, intermediate risk, or high risk from hyperbilirubinemia. Enter the baby's age and total bilirubin and get the baby's risk stratification and any guidelines for phototherapy.

Although not available as an app, if you go to their website in Safari, you can easily add the page to your home screen, so that you don't have to manually launch your browser and find the site's bookmark.

The LactMed Drugs and Lactation Database from the U.S. National Library of Medicine is an easy to use reference about which drugs are safe to use while breastfeeding. And more importantly, it offers clear advice on which drugs to avoid and safer alternatives. From antibiotics and allergy medications to drugs for depression, the Lactmed app provides a handy reference for pediatricians and other doctors who give advice to breastfeeding mothers.

Read AAP News, the official news magazine of the American Academy of Pediatrics on your iPhone or iPad.

The AAP News app includes current and past issues of AAP News, a news feed, and it saves your favorite bookmarks from each issue.

The Allscripts ePrescribe app allows you to prescribe new medications and authorize refills for your patients on your iPhone or iPad, without writing a paper prescription or having to call a pharmacy.

Parents like when you use the Allscripts ePrescribe app because they don't have to drop off the script at the pharmacy, pharmacists like it, because they don't have to try and decipher what the doctor was trying to prescribe, and your staff will probably like it too, as they won't have requests to call in scripts anymore. The app is free, but you will want a subscription to ePrescribe Deluxe to use all of the features.

Epocrates Rx is a free drug reference or formulary with information on prescription and OTC drugs, including drug interactions and pediatric drug dosing.

The app even lets you check drug pricing to see what common drugs cost and helps you find lower cost generics, when appropriate.

Keep in mind that you do have to view DocAlerts that are sponsored by pharmaceutical companies to use the free drug databases.

Get access to over 20,000 prescription and non-prescription medications to see if they are safe during pregnancy and while breastfeeding. Although the app isn't free, like LactMed, it does have the benefit of a clear rating system that tells you if a medicine is safest, safer, probably safe, possibly hazardous, or hazardous.

You can also see safety information by trimester or stage of breastfeeding or search by condition to see a list of safe medicines. And if you still need help, call the Infant Risk Center for more advice.

The UpToDate Mobile app gives you access to your UpToDate subscription on your iPad or iPhone.

Find out what's new, including the latest guidelines in pediatrics, or search for information and advice on just about any other medical topic you can think of, from treating ear infections the contraindications for a kidney transplant. The UpToDate Mobile app also gives you easy access to all of the UpToDate calculators, including maintenance fluid calculations, BMI and blood pressure percentiles, and a height predictor.

Converter Plus is a handy unit converter that can convert area, energy, speed, and force units and almost anything else you can think of.

Pediatricians will find the ability to easily convert temperature and weight units the most useful.

It also includes a BMI calculator, A-a Gradiant tool, Tip Calculator, and the ability to make your own templates to do just about any conversions and calculations you want.

Like Epocrates Rx, the Medscape app includes a drug reference library, with pediatric dosing, and drug interaction checker, but also includes clinical information on over 4,000 diseases and conditions and a guide to common procedures and protocols.