Healthcare Apps Toolkit: For Patients

A variety of apps useful for patient health.  Also translation apps and drawing apps to assist in patient communication.

Type of App: Patient Health
Cost: Free
Availability: Anyone
Access: Mobile friendly website which is optimized to smart phones.

Health information for patients and families organized and created by the U.S. National Library of Medicine. Covers diseases, conditions, medications, wellness topics, and the latest news. Available in English and Spanish.

1. Go the Medline Plus website
2. Bookmark the URL to this mobile friendly website
3. Alternatively, for iPhones add to your homescreen by tapping on the Sharing Icon and then Add to Home Screen.
   

Type of App: Patient Health
Cost: Free
Availability: Anyone
Access: Using iTunes or Google Play

WebMD features a thorough and comprehensive database of medications, symptoms, medical terminology, and diseases, written for patients.

Pocket First Aid and CPR

Type of App: Patient Health
Cost: Free
Availability: Anyone
Access: Using iTunes or Google Play

All content provided by the American Heart Association, United States oldest and largest voluntary health organization dedicated to building healthier lives, free of heart disease and stroke.

Canadian Red Cross First Aid 

Type of App: Patient Health
Cost: Free
Availability: Anyone
Access: Using iTunes> or Google Play

• Simple, step-by-step instructions guide you through everyday first aid scenarios.
• Fully integrated with 911, so you can call EMS from the app at any time.
• Videos and animations to help you sharpen your first aid skills.
• Safety tips for everything from severe winter weather to hurricanes, earthquakes and tornadoes, to help you prepare for emergencies.
• Preloaded content means you have instant access to all safety information at any time, even without reception or an Internet connection.
• Interactive quizzes allow you to earn badges that you can share with your friends and show off your lifesaving knowledge.

Lose It

Type of App: Patient Health
Cost: Free
Availability: Anyone
Access: Using iTunes or Google Play.

Helps you set a daily calorie budget, track your food and exercise, and stay motivated to make smarter choices and achieve or maintain weight goals.

MyFitness Pal

Type of App: Patient Health
Cost: Free
Availability: Anyone
Access: Using iTunes or Google Play

Calorie counting for over 3,000,000 foods.  Fully syncs with the web, so you can log from your computer or your phone, whichever is more convenient. Plus your data is backed up online so you never lose it.

Run Keeper

Type of App: Patient Health
Cost: Free
Availability: Anyone
Access: Using iTunes or Google Play

Track your pace, measure workout distance, chart weight loss, crush training goals and more.  Tracks all kinds of activities including running, cycling, mountain biking, hiking, skiing, skating and much more.

My Medical

Type of App: Patient Health
Cost: Free
Availability: Anyone
Access: Using iTunes

A comprehensive record-keeping app for your personal medical information. A possible replacement for unreliable paper records or various electronic systems that hold bits and pieces of your medical history. 

Immunize Canada

Type of App: Patient Health
Cost: Free
Availability: Anyone
Access: Using iTunes or Google Play

• Easily record and store vaccine information
• Access vaccination schedules
• Manage vaccination appointments for the entire family
• Access evidence-based and expert-reviewed information about recommended and routine vaccinations for children, adults and travellers
• Receive alerts about disease outbreaks in their area

Medibabble

Type of App: Patient Health
Cost: Free
Availability: Anyone
Access: Using iTunes

A professional-grade medical translation tool. MediBabble currently downloads with Spanish included, with additional languages (French, Mandarin, Cantonese, Russian, German and Haitian Creole) available as free downloads from within the application.

Canopy Medical Translator

Type of App: Patient Health
Cost: Free
Availability: Anyone
Access: Using iTunes

Communicate quickly with patients using translated medical phrases in Spanish, Chinese, Arabic, Hindi, Korean, Malay, Portuguese, Russian, Tagalog, Vietnamese, and more. Show phrases with text, and play with audio. Endorsed by the U.S National Institutes of Health.

Type of App: Patient Health
Cost: Free
Availability: Anyone
Access: Using iTunes for iPad

The app’s principle goal is to improve the doctor-patient communication, and thereby the patient’s understanding of their procedure. The home screen of the app presents this goal as a simple set of options: create a New Drawing or explore a Saved Drawing. There are versions for General Surgery, Cardiology, Orthopedics, Obgyn, Vascular, Anesthesia and Critical Care, Pediatrics, Thoracic Surgery, Ophthalmology, Transplant Surgery, Speech Language Pathology, Breast Health, Pulmonology.  Using these images, the user can add predetermined stamps, texts, and free drawings (in multiple colors). So for example, the surgeon could draw a small line depicting the eventual location of a scar, draw an arrow pointing to the part of the liver to be resected, and so on.