RDs Work Smarter With Smart Phones

I love my iPhone. Since Apple opened the App Store a while ago, I've found several apps in the medical section that I simply can't live without. Epocrates allows me to quickly and easily get information about thousands of medications. The basic application is free. While I've not signed up for the Premium Epocrates Essentials, I'm considering doing that; the premium version has toold to calculate doses, information about diseases and conditions, and alternative medications.

Additionally, let's say a patient describes a "little round blue pill". I can use the pill lookup tool to help identify what that medication is by entering information such as the size, color, coating, or imprint. Obviously, the more information you have about the pill, the fewer potential matches you'll get.

Here is a screen shot from Epocrates.


Another of my favorite apps is Mediquations Medical Calculator. This one currently has 190 medical formulas and scores. I can change the settings to use either US or SI units. Many of the formulas and equations are also referenced, so I can look to see how various formulas were developed or the intended use. Also, I set up a list of my favorite equations; the ones I use most often with students. That way there's no scrolling around looking for the ones I use every day. Each also shows the complete equation so I can use it as a teaching tool.

Here is a screen shot from Mediquations showing how to change the settings to use either SI or US units for each equation.

There are many equations that would be of use for RDs, including Basal Energy Expenditure, Corrected Calcium, conversion of HbA1c to average blood glucose, Ranson criteria for scoring acute pancreatitis, and stool osmotic gap.

Another cool option is to email the results of an equation to a colleague.

I've also just added MedRef to my phone. MedRef was designed with the medical student in mind but I'm finding it to be incredibly useful when teaching students in the clinical setting, as well as to refresh my memory on normal lab values. There is a small reference section that will be incredibly helpful once additional information is added. MedRef might replace all those little notes that we carry around!
I also use PubMed Plus for the iPhone and am thinking of adding a couple more medical apps. I'll update when I do!

Social Networking for Dietitians

My kids introduced me to Facebook but to be honest, I've not spent the time or effort that they do to interact there. However, that experience did make me wonder how professionals can use social networking to communicate. I found Linked In and have a profile there (you can view it here). I also created a network group for dietetics professionals there. While that group is growing, there seems to be very little communication going on. I also belong to a network for Health IT professionals that seems to have quite a lot of discussion. That makes me wonder how RDs communicate?

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Stay tuned for posts about clinical dietetics practice, the Nutrition Care Process and nutrition diagnosis. I'll keep you posted on the new area of dietetics practice - Nutrition informatics.