7 Pharmacist-Friendly Apps You Should Be Using

We all check in with our smartphones more than a few times throughout the day. Whether we’re responding to texts or scrolling through our social feeds, it can be difficult to refrain from the distraction of our mobile devices. But what if there was a way to make your phone actually useful at work?

From drug information to patient education, these apps can help you be better at everything that you do.

1. Epocrates

Epocrates, a point-of-care medical application, is widely regarded as a useful tool for pharmacists. The app itself provides clinical reference information on drugs and has a variety of features such as a drug interaction checker, pill identifier, and drug coverage information for insurance plans. Most of the app’s offerings are free of charge, although additional features may be included for a monthly fee. This includes medicine monographs, peer-reviewed disease content from the BMJ, and labs, ICD-10 codes, and more.

2. Pocket Pharmacist

The Pocket Pharmacist app provides pharmacist-curated drug information that can be useful if you need to look something up quickly. According to the company’s description, it “feels like you’re talking to a live pharmacist versus reading through an encyclopedia.” The tool is good for drug information, searching for drug interactions, and testing your own knowledge through medication quizzes.

3. CDC Vaccine Schedules

Here’s a way to have the latest recommended immunization schedules at your fingertips. The CDC’s Vaccine Schedules app visually mimics the printed schedules which are reviewed and published annually, including the most current version of the schedules for children and adolescents, catch-up schedule for children, adult schedule (as recommended by age group and medical conditions), and an adult contraindications and precautions table. Any changes in the schedule are released through app updates.

4. Drugs.com Medication Guide

Drugs.com offers a comprehensive app filled with information that allows you to check drug interactions, identify pills, and create custom lists and reports. The app also offers in-depth consumer information, FDA alerts, and a complete A-to-Z database of drug information.

5. Merck Manual Professional

The Merck Manual has long been the go-to source for medical knowledge, and now you can put all that in your pocket-without having to lug around a 20-pound book and flip endlessly through thousands of pages. The app contains thousands of regularly-updated articles, drug reference information, illustrations, and much more-all available for free.

6. Lexicomp

this tool has unique features such as pharmacogenomics databases, IV compatibility data, patient education leaflets, drug shortage information, and the ability to reorder databases and monograph fields to customize displays.

According to the company, the content is also stored directly on the device, making it feasible to quickly answer questions while on the go even if there’s no internet connection.

7. Drugs@FDA Express

The FDA's Drugs@FDA Express app is a free mobile version of the agency’s online database of information on approved drugs. Users can search and browse by drug name, active ingredient, or application number. A list of recent approvals, organized by date, can also be viewed in the ‘Last 7 Days’ Approvals’ option