10 best mobile apps for nurses
Nursing can be hectic and fast-paced work. That’s why nurses need the right tools at their fingertips.
Studies show that nurses can use apps to improve accuracy, efficiency, and productivity at work. Apps can help with time management, patient tracking, and evidence-based decision making.
From an ever-growing library in your native app store, here are the ten best mobile apps to help nurses and nursing students work smarter (not harder).
Worrying about medication errors can keep nurses up at night. But nurses using this app will have peace of mind. Drugs.com’s Med Guide app accesses drug information, interactions and side effects in seconds. By tapping the app, nurses can view peer-reviewed, accurate, and independent data on more than 24,000 prescription drugs, over-the-counter drugs, and natural products.
Other features include:
- AZ index of drugs for pregnancy/breastfeeding
- FDA MedWatch Alerts
- Drug Shortage Updates
- Symptom Checker
- Pill ID lookup tool
When logging in, nurses should select the on-screen option to view content suitable for healthcare professionals.
Advantages: Fast, easy to use, accurate
The inconvenients: Upgrade required to remove ads ($1.99-$4.99)
Cost: Free
Download links: Google Play or Apple iTunes
#2 – MediBabble Translator
The care of patients with a language barrier is delicate. That is, unless the nurse has MediBabble Translator. Professional-grade medical interpreting app for healthcare providers is designed to improve efficiency, safety and quality of care for non-English speakers.
Spanish is preloaded and five other languages (French, Cantonese, Mandarin, Russian and Haitian Creole) are available for download. MediBabble can help nurses with triage, initial assessments and interviews. Additionally, the developers are working on an improved nursing-specific module, which will be available soon.
Advantages: Works without internet connection
The inconvenients: Limited languages, ideal for assessment, not ideal for explaining procedures
Cost: free
Download links: Android or Apple iTunes
#3 – Medline Skin Health Product Selector
Medline designed the Skin Health Product Selector to give nurses personalized wound care recommendations based on quick answers to six simple questions. The app also offers links to helpful resources, including:
- Treatment videos showing how to apply dressings
- Medline University Online Training
- Unlimited access to over 200 free CEU courses for nurses, ranging from wellness and nutrition to trauma and personal care
Nurses do not need to create an account to use the app if they choose “Guest”.
Advantages: Quick and appropriate recommendations for wound care
The inconvenients: Recommendations are limited to branded products
Cost: Free
Connections: Google Play or Apple iTunes
#4 – ECG Guide
Nurses who interpret and manage patients with different rhythms will love the ECG Guide app. It is a learning tool for those still in training and a reliable reference for experienced nurses. Features built into the app include:
- Library of over 200 high-resolution ECG samples
- ECG interpreter
- Multiple-choice quizzes to test knowledge
- Quick reference section
- Advice on pediatric conditions is included.
Advantages: Accurate and clear resource
The inconvenients: It does not analyze external ECG samples
Cost: $0.99
Download links: Android or Apple iTunes
#5 – Medscape
Medscape Online is the one-stop medical resource for medical news, education, and clinical referrals. Nurses can access all of this and more in the easy-to-use Medscape app. One feature of this app that the others on the list don’t have is a podcast hub. Each show features an expert and a discussion of trending health topics. Other great resources in the app include:
- News affecting nurses
- Access to drug and disease databases
- Continuing education of nurses
- Clinical Trial Updates
- Online and local events and webinars
Advantages: Informative, lots of features
The inconvenients: Lots of annoying ads
Cost: Free
Download links: Google Play or Apple iTunes
#6 – BonRx Pro
Nurses who don’t use GoodRx fall behind. Since 2011, GoodRx’s mobile app has helped patients save an estimated $30 billion in prescription drug costs. Now, GoodRx for Healthcare Professionals allows nurses and doctors to join the cause. GoodRx Pro for Healthcare Professionals aims to increase medication adherence by allowing users to create a list of commonly dispensed prescriptions. Nurses can then send information to patients via email or SMS.
Advantages: Extreme savings for patients
The inconvenients: No bells and whistles (features)
Cost: Free
Download links: Google Play or Apple iTunes
#7 – Incredible Support for Health Careers
The best thing about this app is the premium CEUs which can be customized according to the nurse’s state, specialty and interests. Nurses can quickly complete CE requirements at home, during a shift or on the go by clicking “CE & Tools”. Incredible Health’s app also allows RNs to browse jobs, compare salaries, and ask questions in the nursing community. More than 1000 users support this app with 4.9 stars on iTunes.
Advantages: The app’s creators developed it carefully with nurse support in mind, including mental health tools like the Monthly Mental Health Index.
The inconvenients: Some tools are not actually in the app. Instead, the app links direct users to a web page which slows down functionality.
Cost: Free
Download links: Google Play or Apple iTunes
#8 – Handbook of IV Medications by Gahart
This mobile app is a nursing manual for the safe administration of IV medications. It’s updated for 2022, including the latest FDA-approved drug information. The IV Meds app is a comprehensive, searchable resource for infusion therapy in all patient populations, from neonates to geriatrics. Easily find black box or boxed warnings, dosage and dilution charts, and alphabetical drug monographs. Nurses can access:
- Generic/trade names
- drug pH
- Dosage adjustments
- Incompatibilities
- administration rate
- Shares
- Indications and uses
- Contraindications & precautions
- Drug/laboratory interactions
- Side effects
- Antidotes
In the app, nurses can take notes, voice memos and annotations with text, doodles or scribbles.
Advantages: Updated annually, gives nurses peace of mind when working with new infusions
The inconvenients: Dear
Cost: 30-day free trial, then $49.99 for annual subscription.
Download links: Google Play or Apple iTunes
#9 – Taber’s Medical Dictionary
Taber’s is one of the most trusted resources for nurses. Taber’s Comprehensive Medical Dictionary now contains over 75,000 terms, 1,300 photos, 33,700 audio pronunciations, 130 videos and over 600 patient care statements from the latest edition. Taber’s mobile app gives nurses pocket access to the latest 24th Edition content trusted by professionals around the world. Other features of this app include:
- Nutrition and alternative therapy
- Immunization schedules
- Appendix Medical abbreviations
- Laboratory values
- Finding the same information online would take hours of reading and research. Instead, this app provides the clinically relevant information needed in one place. In seconds, nurses can quickly search, bookmark, highlight and annotate what they need.
Advantages: Comprehensive resource, tons of information for nursing practice
The inconvenients: Expensive
Cost: The free version is limited. The full version costs $39.99.
Download links: Google Play or Apple iTunes
#10 – Nursing Center
Many may consider this last app on the list the best, at least when it comes to benchmarking tools. Nursing Central’s mobile app provides access to five nursing volumes in one place. Users get:
- Davis’s Drug Guide – education on over 5000 drugs
- Taber’s Medical Dictionary – see #9
- Davis Laboratory and Diagnostic Tests
- Diseases and Disorders
Staff nurses and nursing students will be super-prepared for any task with this app in their pocket. Users also have access to the Nursing Central website for one year.
Advantages: The most reference material in one place
The inconvenients: Very expensive
Cost: The annual subscription is $179.99, but users can preview the app for free.
Download links: Google Play or Apple iTunes
