Mobile Apps at work/clinicals

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When I took my son to the doctor last, I noticed the NP using her cell phone to look up how much medicine to give my son. The doctor came in right before she gave the meds. and told her not to give it, he was too young. I've noticed a few nurses also using apps on the job. Is this seen as ok in the workplace or in clincials? I wouldn't mind having it to help supplement what I learn in school, but I would be afraid to use it in clinicals...is that considered cheating? I would also be afraid that doing this in front of the pt. would make you look like you are unsure with yourself. While I wanted to ask what app she was using (I was interested), I also couldn't help but feel a little uncomfortable, especially when the doctor said no and pulled her aside. Do many workplaces or schools allow this?

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Specializes in Cardiothoracic ICU.

i dont see anything wrong with it. Obviously the practitioner should be familiar with the drug and dosages but using phones to look up exact dosages or any information is good because it saves time and probably is actually safer than not looking something up.

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We are encouraged to use apps in clinical but I never do it in front of patients. I look up what I need and write it down if I need to reference.

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Specializes in Med/Surg.

Our school policy was no cell phones on us during clinicals (this came about as a result of an incident involving a student using a camera on a cell phone during clinical-another story for another time). There were one or two instructors that would allow a student to carry an iPod with medical apps on it. They viewed it more as an available resource like a drug book, or text book.

There are a number of medical apps on the market, some you pay for and some that have valuable free features. A couple that comes to mind are Epocrates and MedScape.

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Specializes in Nephrology, Cardiology, ER, ICU.

As an APN I do use my cell phone for multiple apps. I do use it in front of pts and I explain that I just want to be aurora of the dose, calculation, exact test name, etc.

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I used my cell phone ALL the time in clinicals. We were required to buy Skyscape and expected to have it available if we needed to research something during clinicals. I NEVER used my phone in front of a patient (and I'm thinking that nurse shouldn't have used her phone in front of you either). I don't think it's cheating at all. There is not a nurse in this world that knows EVERYTHING there is to know .. I think a nurse that has resources on hand to answer the questions she doesn't know the answers to is a smart nurse :)

Side Note: Skyscape is around $89 for a year subscription and I'm not a big fan of the software. Skyscape is not set up that great and there is a lot of information that is not in the different resources. I really like epocrates and medscape - they are FREE!! Also, if you have a phone that gets on the internet you can always use your web browser to search whatever you need - obviously NOT wikipedia. Go into the medical section of your app store and look at all of the different choices you have. I have an iPhone so I'm not very familiar with any of the Droid applications, but I hear that they are pretty comparable to what is offered for the iPhone.

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Specializes in Rehabilitation, MICU.

I love my medical apps on my iphone, but I use them more for "reassurance" or to double check my thinking or calculations. If I saw something that I had no clue or had never seen or calculated I would check book references or ask a more knowledgeable source. I would never use it in front of a patient or patients family. We have 2 major nursing schools in my area and at one you are not allowed to have your cellphone or PDA on your body in clinicals but at the other you are required to have a PDA or smartphone with a drug book app??? So I guess you might be partial to where you went to school!

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Specializes in critical care.

My primary doc and PA have both looked up meds in drug books during my appointments, and it never made me uncomfortable. Both times they discussed the treatment with me and then told me what they were looking up as they did it. I would much rather have them look up the details than get it wrong.

I plan to purchase an ipod touch for clinicals.

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We are required to have IPODS for clinical. We have drug guides, caculators, normal ranges, etc. on them. However, we don't rely heavily on them and hardly ever use them in front of the patient. Educational purposes only. Get caught goofing off on it? Clinical failure.

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Specializes in Critical Care.

Good heavens! I have a ton of apps I use for work and use them all the time. I have various drug references, nursing apps, clinical calculators and other various references. I like the online aspect as they are updated more frequently than hard editions, which many times are out of date as soon as they are published.

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I use medscape frequently and it has been a blessing.

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I hope my school is good with us using them. I have been debating getting an ipod touch. I have a laptop, but it is big and heavy and not very practical to use in class, with all of the books I have to carry. I have seen other students take notes and such on their ipad. My husband thinks I'm just wanting the ipad and using nursing school as an excuse lol.

Also: I wish they would sell books at a discounted price at college bookstores by selling them in download format for the ipad. It would save paper, shipping, and alot of headaches trying to scrape up the money. I guess they would lose money that way.

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