The job of EM clinicians can be demanding, nerve-racking, and even isolating. Not only do they handle multiple patients at a time, but they also have to determine the next best step in mere seconds.
Severe pains, breathing difficulties, or a heart attack — healthcare workers have to be prepared for any emergency medicine situation. And the only thing that will help them stabilize patients is sufficient medical knowledge.
Do they have the time to comb through dozens of medical references? No.
But they have their smartphones that can become the ultimate medical encyclopedia.
In particular, mobile devices can provide instant access to emergency medicine expertise, whether you’re a healthcare professional or just a medical enthusiast.
Today, we’ll have a look at the top 10 emergency medicine apps. Most of these emergency medicine apps are well-known in emergency departments and among physicians. Some of the mentioned references are free, but most of them are subscription-based.
The State Of Market For Emergency Medicine Apps
The advent of mobile devices in the healthcare sector has transformed many aspects of clinical practice. In healthcare settings, telemedicine solutions and emergency medical apps are becoming more widespread to aid practitioners in a variety of activities, including critical care and emergency medicine.
According to a report, the global emergency medicine apps market size stood at $588.9 million in 2019. During the research period of 2020 to 2027, it is projected to climb to a CAGR of 39.4%.
Among the biggest market drivers is the increasing disease frequency such as trauma, stroke, cardiovascular diseases, and other urgent care emergency medicine conditions. Thus, CVD is the leading global cause of death and accounted for approximately 18.6 million deaths in 2019.
That is why EM clinicians should strictly follow instructions while providing immediate treatments.
Overall, emergency medicine apps fall into the three categories according to their type:
- Pre-hospital medic and triaging mobile apps, including emergency medicine;
- Hospital-based mobile apps for professional communication;
- Post-hospital mobile apps for medication management, rehabilitation mobile apps, and care providing.
Each category of medical mobile apps includes a different set of functionality based on their target users. However, the majority of healthcare apps must have data integration with Epic to enable quick exchanging of medical data and access comprehensive medical info on any patient.
Now that we’ve gone over the basics, let’s have a look at the 10 best apps for emergency medicine according to their rating and popularity.
WikEM
Availability — Android and iOS
Price — Free (+in-app purchases)
Rating — 4.8 (Android), 4.8 (iOS)
WikiEM, which is also known as the Global Emergency Medicine Wiki, is one of the largest online point-of-care references to assist physicians with their daily practice. This emergency medicine app is like a Wikipedia version for emergency medicine. Global Emergency Medicine Wiki is open to the public and boasts over 100,000 downloads.
This online emergency medicine knowledge library contains thousands of medical notes to aid professionals in patient management. The point-of-care smartphone app is designed for a variety of medical professionals, primarily those working in emergency medicine.
Heart Pathway
Availability — iOS
Price — Free
Rating — 4.5 (iOS)
Heart Pathway was built as a clinical protocol and decision tool for better risk stratification of patients with chest pain. This emergency medical app uses an evidence-based algorithm that considers a patient’s age, symptoms, cardiac risk factors, and ECG changes. This data is then used to estimate a HEART value.
The HEART score is a validated medical tool developed in the Netherlands in 2008. A score of 3 or less carries a less than 1% risk of major adverse cardiac events in the next 30 days. These patients can be safely discharged from the ER without further workup.
Thanks to its analytical functionality, this application proved to reduce patient length of stay by 10+ hours and cut down medical costs. Therefore, this free emergency medicine application helps discern low-risk chest pain patients who can be safely sent home without hospitalization.
From a technical side, the Heart Pathway emergency medicine tool relies on Impathiq’s IQ Engine, a scalable technology platform that helps medical providers implement new clinical pathways into EMR-integrated web applications.
Currently, the app is available only on iOS free of charge.
MDCalc
Availability — Android, iOS
Price — free
Rating — 4.9 (iOS), 4.9 (Android)
MDCalc is a mature medical calculator that offers a variety of clinical decision tools including risk scores, algorithms, formulas, dosing calculators, and more at one click. According to EB Medicine, over 50% of U.S. medical workers use MDCalc’s 370+ tools on a day-to-day basis.
Created by board-certified physicians, this free medical calculator assists 35+ specialties and 200+ patient problems. Although MDCalc is mainly used by clinicians in North America, it is establishing a global presence, with users in over 100 countries.
Another boon of MDCalc is that it allows medical providers to get AMA PRA Categories 1TM CME credits by reading the clinical information for 150+ calculators.
Emra PressorDex
Availability — iOS
Price — $16.99
Rating — 3.1 (iOS)
This medical app is based on a pocket guide to critical medications that provides comprehensive information on pressors, vasoactive drugs, continuous infusions, and other medications. The application provides you with needed information for choosing the right medication and dosages for acutely ill patients at an emergency department.
Emra PressorDex is one of the digital products of The Emergency Medicine Residents’ Association. The latter is the resident organization that is involved in emergency medicine physicians-in-training.
Emra PressorDex is currently available only on iOS.
PalmEM
Availability — iOS
Price — Paid ($23,99)
Rating — 4.6 (iOS)
PalmEM is a comprehensive point-of-care reference that covers everything from pediatrics to ultrasound and other most commonly encountered conditions in emergency medicine. This emergency medicine app includes a whole range of knowledge, including medication references, clinical decision rules, and other info on various conditions.
However, the summaries are by no means in-depth examinations. Instead, references are meant to be a quick overview of the subject for those who already have a medical background at emergency medicine departments.
Although the app is paid, users don’t have to buy annual subscription fees, since the application is available for a one-time download fee.
Amion Physician Calendar
Availability — Android, iOS
Price — free
Rating — 4.5 (iOS), 3.1 (Android)
Amion is a free open access physician scheduling app that helps healthcare institutions keep track of shifts, schedules, vacation resorts, and others. Along with scheduling, this application includes a great number of features for emergency physicians and healthcare providers.
These includes:
- Receiving schedule change alerts;
- Customizing calendars with color-coding;
- Exchanging HIPAA-secure text messages;
- Group text messaging;
- Accessing colleagues’ Doximity profile for information on fax numbers, back lines, and emails.
Amion Physician Calendar is available on Android and iOS for free.
Pedi-STAT
Availability — Android, iOS
Price — $5.49 (Android), $4.99 (iOS)
Rating — 4.4 (iOS), 4.6 (Android)
Pedi-STAT is another point of care emergency medicine app that aids nurses, physicians, and other professionals in the emergency or urgent care environment.
Pedi-STAT was created as a drug dosage application that offers medical references in a color-coded mobile format to minimize discrepancies in an emergency. For each type of pediatric emergency, EM specialists can look up the drug dosage, ranges when relevant, and any other pertinent information. Users can adjust the patient’s age, weight, or height.
This emergency medicine app assists emergency physicians in a rapid calculation of the accurate medication dosage for a patient according to their parameters such as weight and age. Peti-stat also offers resources like resuscitation guidelines for young patients.
Among other emergency medicine features are the following:
- Information on airway interventions including endotracheal tube sizes, depth, and others;
- Age and weight-specific pediatric equipment;
- Seizure medication dosages;
- Management of hypoglycemia;
- Reference of age-specific normal vital signs;
- Calculated pain management medications;
- Medical management of allergic reactions and anaphylaxis, and others. Healthcare professionals can download Pedi-STAT on Android and iOS for $5.49 and $4.99 respectively.
UpToDate
Availability — Android, iOS
Price — Individual or institutional subscription required
Rating — 4.0 (iOS), 4.5 (Android)
UpToDate is an emergency medicine app that is among the most popular clinical decision support references with hands-on healthcare expertise.
It’s an evidence-based clinical decision support resource that covers everything from drug topics to recommendations for the point of care. The application comprises over 25 specialties.
UpToDate is a fantastic way to remain up to date on medical breakthroughs and news, whether you’re studying medicine or simply enjoy learning new things.
The mobile app features are quite standard and include:
- Login;
- Search with auto-completion;
- Earn and track free CME/CE/CPD credit;
- Favorites;
- Print and email topics or graphics to patients and colleagues;
- Options for desktop access and mobile complete for remote use;
- Clinical calculators;
- Detailed medical graphics and others. However, this emergency medicine application is quite pricey since you need to buy an annual subscription of $500 or have an institutional account. You can also get 30 days of a free trial.
Emergency Central
Availability — Android, iOS
Price — $159.95
Rating — 4.7 (iOS), 2.8 (Android)
Built for emergency medicine, Emergency Central shares comprehensive information on various specialties, diseases, drugs, and test information for clinicians at the point of care. This emergency medicine app also offers treatment resources with instant answers which are especially helpful for emergency care.
Its core features include:
- In-depth information on treatment strategies, follow-up, and others;
- Differential diagnoses;
- 1-year free drug updates;
- Crosslinks for faster access;
- Full PubMed database;
- Text search.
5-Minute Emergency Medicine Consult
Availability — Android, iOS
Price — $99.95
Rating — 4.7 (iOS), 2.8 (Android)
Rosen & Barkin’s 5-Minute Emergency Medicine Consult is a smartphone and tablet app that provides useful, quick-read information on over 600 medical issues seen in emergency medicine.
This mobile resource, which was written and edited by practicing doctors, is great for verifying accurate diagnoses and initiating treatment in the fast-paced context of urgent and emergent care.
Each entry is laid out in a tried-and-true rapid-access manner, enabling users to search for medical conditions, confirm a diagnosis, and start treatment.
The app is available on Android and iOS.
The Bottom Line
The proliferation of urgent care centers, as well as initiatives to reduce hospital admissions, has led to shifts in the healthcare environment. Digitalization is one of the most prominent shifts that allow physicians and critical care nurses to improve emergency department traffic as well as streamline patient care.
The list of mobile apps mentioned above includes general-purpose mobile solutions that can be helpful to healthcare professionals or provide instant reading at emergency medicine departments.
Top comments (1)
I just stumbled upon this thread and wanted to add my two cents. I've seen some amazing apps out there for emergency medicine that can really make a difference. It's awesome how technology is making healthcare more efficient and effective. I noticed that some apps were mentioned, but I also wanted to throw in some resources for discounts on medications. We all know how expensive healthcare can be, so every little bit helps. Thanks for starting the information!