Any app suggestions for a new nursing student?

[Momofzra]

Hi Everyone!

I am starting in January (yay!) and have been looking at all the apps available for my Iphone. Do any of you have a favorite or one that you feel has helped you a lot with your studies?

Thank you!

[prettymica, ASN, BSN, MSN, LPN, RN, APRN, NP]

Micromedex for clincals

[outdoorsRN]

iTriage. It's free.

[RN9742]

I have a drug book, and medscape on my iPhone. But honestly they rarely get used since we are not allowed to have electronics on the floor of any kind. So before spending any money on apps, I would make sure you can use them first! And look for freebies!

[PatMac10,RN, RN]

Micromedex is your best friend in clinical, if your school allows you to use your phone as a clinical tool during clinical. At my school we are allowed to use our phones or PDAs as clinical tools, our instructors do too. As long as we use it in the appropriate way and area.

I like iTriage too. Also MD EzLabs helps with lab values and what they measure and the relevance and meaning of high or low values.

[BostonFNP, APRN]

Lexi-Comp but wait to see if your school has a discount for it.

[bubblejet50]

I love epocrates! I dont feel like spending the $100 for all the clinical info but I use the medbook (which is free!) all the time. In clinical they told us to not use our phones but there were times the med was too old, new, or odd to be in the book and the teacher asked to use my app and phone! An internal medicine doctor referred it to me.

[mdarcelin]

Congratulations!! Concerning apps that I use during clinicals and for studying for meds, I use the Davis's Drug Guide that comes bundled in with the Nursing Central app that our school provided for us. Now Nursing Central is not free but Davis's Drug Guide 2013 from Unbound Medicine in the app store alone is $39.99. I also have Medscape and Micromedex installed because I really like comparing apps to see what each has to offer. Medscape and Micromedex are both free and I think both work well together - where one may lack a bit of information, the other picks up. I did some screenshots for all three using the drug Famotidine as an example to show the differences which I (hopefully) attached to this response. Main point between all three concerning drugs: Medscape app (free) includes a partial list of Y-site compatibility (8 drugs) and incompatibility (not all are listed but I'm hoping they will add a fuller list in the future) while Micromedex (free) doesn't list any, and the Davis's Drug Guide ($39.99) includes a good amount of drugs that are compatible (186 drugs!) and incompatible at the Y-site. Sometimes Medscape doesn't list the rate that a drug is supposed to be infusing at, but Micromedex does but the reverse sometimes happens. Concerning Davis's Drug Guide, there is only one drug so far that didn't have the rate of infusion listed but for this particular drug, it's not easy to find the rate of infusion. Also with Davis's Drug Guide I felt as if the assessment and patient teaching sections are more geared towards Nursing which I found to be really helpful in the clinical setting. The whole Nursing Central app in general is worth it to me but admittedly it is pricey. The Medscape app does have it's major positives for being a free app: it includes a handful of medical calculators that I use sometimes to check my calculations, it has information on the diagnostic tests, it has lab value data and interpretation of the lab values, normal vital signs data (though it doesn't list the normal respiratory rate values for toddlers and newborns which is odd), and more. The same content but expanded a bit further for some of the topics can also be found on the Medscape website (Medscape: Medscape Access).

Another good app that is pretty useful when it comes to having handy review of the nursing clinical skills would be the Taylor's Nursing Skills Handbook app by Unbound Medicine ($34.99 I believe) and it goes through the skill step by step along with pictures to provide a visual aide. Well, that's all for now! I have rambled on for far too long already! Congratulations once again and good luck on your journey!!

Before I go (I know - I'm still rambling!), I learned this tip here on allnurses but it's worth mentioning: you can visit this link here: Main Menu - NCLEX-RN 3500 - Institutional Version in order to do NCLEX questions on the go using your preferred browser on your phone. I personally click on Review and then Nursing Topics to focus on a particular topic at a time but you can chose to test yourself in anyway. Good luck!

[dayanara]

Nurses pocket guides(39.99) will help you a lot with care plans. Micromedex is a must for meds! Good luck!

[Momofzra]

Thank you all so much for the great advice! I will be looking into all of these. Are there any sites that you have found that are helpful when you are studying? How about books? Sorry to be so "nosey", just trying to be prepared. :)

[PatMac10,RN, RN]

Thank you all so much for the great advice! I will be looking into all of these. Are there any sites that you have found that are helpful when you are studying? How about books? Sorry to be so "nosey" just trying to be prepared. :)[/quote']

The [Nursing] Demystified series outlines and sums up difficult concepts in a brief spread. The books are divided into different subjects like: Fundamentals, Medical Surgical, Maternal Newborn, critical care etc...

[Momofzra]

Fantastic! I will look into getting that series. Thank you so much!