While there's no limit to what you're expected to know as a nurse, you can, fortunately, access a little help via your smartphone. Many apps are available that let you do everything from identifying medications by their size, shape and imprint to helping you recover from a stressful shift.
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The following nine mobile apps are ones that every nurse should download:
Medscape
How it's available: Android and iOS downloads
Price: Free
Who recommends it: Everynurse.org and nearly every list of recommended apps for nurses
Why you'll want it: You'll get the latest medical news that's targeted by specialty as well as FDA announcements, medical calculators, drug references, continuing education coursework and more.
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Pill Identifier by Drugs.com
How it's available: iOS download
Price: 99 cents
Who recommends it: nursejournal.org
Why you'll want it: This app helps you quickly identify more than 12,000 medications by their imprint, shape, color or name.
MediBabble
How it's available: iOS download
Price: Free
Who recommends it: HOSTHealthcare
Why you'll want it: MediBabble helps you take histories and physical exams of non-English speaking patients. It downloads with English and Spanish included, and French, Mandarin, Cantonese, Russian, German and Haitian Creole can be downloaded for free within the app. After the app is downloaded, it doesn't require Internet connectivity.
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MedPage Today
How it's available: Android and iOS downloads
Price: Free
Who recommends it: scrubsmag.com
Why you'll want it: MedPage Today covers breaking medical news and also lets you earn free CME and continuing education credits through the app.
Epocrates
How it's available: Android and iOS downloads
Price: Free
Who recommends it: nursebuff.com
Why you'll want it: This app provides a wealth of help, including drug prescribing and safety information, insurance formularies, interaction checks, dosing calculators and other tools, CDC and FDA updates and more.
Disease Dictionary
How it's available: Android and iOS downloads
Price: Free
Who recommends it: nursebuff.com
Why you'll want it: This medical dictionary app has detailed definitions of disorders and diseases, as well as definitions, symptoms, causes and treatments.
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NurseGrid
How it's available: Android and iOS download
Price: Free
Who recommends it: thejobnetwork.com
Why you'll want it: NurseGrid was created by nurses to help make their schedules easier, and it can help you organize and coordinate your work and personal life with calendars and color-coding.
Headspace
How it's available: Android and iOS downloads
Price: Free
Who recommends it: masmedicalstaffing.com
Why you'll want it: Nursing can be extremely stressful, and you need to take care of yourself in order to be at your best. Headspace offers guided meditations, "SOS" sessions for moments of stress, sleep sounds to help you drift off and more.
Nursing Central
How it's available: Android and iOS
Price: $161.95 for an annual subscription
Who recommends it: diversity nursing blog
Why you'll want it: This one is pricey, but it lets you access detailed information on diseases, tests and procedures and includes access to Diseases and Disorders, Davis' Drug Guide, Taber's Medical Dictionary and Davis' Laboratory and Diagnostic Tests.
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