Street Apps

“Knowledge is of two kinds.  We know a subject ourselves, or we know where we can find information on it.” –Samuel Johnson (1709-1784)

That was one of the quote posts that I put onto the Facebook site a week or so ago, and it got me to thinking.  It would blow Mr. Johnson’s mind to see the availability of information that is contained in the phone in my pocket.  Entertainment is also of two kinds - we know how to open a game on our phone, or we sit bored.  We live in an amazing time.  

So speaking of my phone, I started thinking about how I use it at work.  I can’t believe that I used to work a shift with a book or two in my backpack – it is hard for me to even imagine getting through a shift like that.  Stone Age EMS also had a protocol binder stashed somewhere and a map book behind the passenger seat.  Nowadays I use my phone all the time at work, and not just because my calls are texted to me on it.  It is esoteric medical knowledge at my fingertips, plus a lot of games, books, and reference tools.  Here are some apps that I use at work, both in a professional sense and in a time-burning sense.  Personally, I use an iPhone but the Android system probably either has all of these apps, or something similar.  Keep in mind that I am not endorsing these products, but rather just explaining some apps that I use during my time on the streets.  If you have other ideas, please let us know in comments

Paramedic Protocol Provider

Sometimes my partner and I can confuse ourselves about some detail of protocol, especially if something changed recently.  It is handy to have the protocols in a portable, electronic format that is updated automatically by an office drone as soon as the change is made.  This way I am not losing an important page in a binder or anything like that.  This is the mobile app in which my agency posts our protocols, but it costs a few bucks.  Think of it as the argument ender.  I think it is worth it, even if I only use it three times per year (and never on a call).  There is a free version, as well, but we don’t post to that one (unsure as to why) – if your agency does, good for you.

Medscape

There are quite a few medical apps like Medscape.  There are lab value guides like Lab Values Pro, Pocket Lab Values, and others.  There are pharmacology guides like Clinicians Pocket Drug Reference and others like that.  I like that Medscape combines the two into a single app.  I can look up weird medications, lab values, unusual conditions, drug interactions, and stuff like that.  Keep in mind that it can make you look like you don’t know what you’re doing, so avoid using it on a call if you can.  I try to make an effort to look up every patient prescription that I don’t know, so I end up using this app way too often.

Google Maps

This app shouldn’t need a whole lot of introduction.  It is helpful to replace a whole map book to look up unusual addresses, plus it can come up with routing suggestions.  I’m not sure that I agree with most routes, but then again it probably isn’t designed for emergency travel.  Even with suboptimal routing suggestions, it is better than a map book.  At my agency, we have an internal cultural expectation to know each street in the city, but I still look up an address pretty often.  Just because I know an address doesn’t mean that I remember the park that blocks access from the north.  A quick check of the location probably gets me there a little faster, on average over time.

Maplets

Have you ever wished that Google Maps had maps of specific locations, like an amusement park, university campus, stadium, or national park?  And do it with enough detail for you to find the patient in the "Woods Building" (wherever that is) or by the lion exhibit at the zoo?  Where is Section 234?  Maybe even locate you on the map with GPS?  This is what the Maplets program does.  It rocks.  There are dozens of maps like this for each major and minor city around the world – transit and subway maps, bike trails, parks, points of interest, campuses, national parks, everything.  And the Maplets crew are responsive if you send them an email with a map they don't have - they add it in about a week.

Dropbox

Dropbox is like a remote hard drive that syncs between your home computer, iPhone, and iPad so that you can access files, photos, and other files when you’re not at home.  Pretty good idea.  I have a bunch of lectures on this program, so that I update a lecture when I’m in the ambulance, plus I can teach even when I forget my memory stick.  That, and it is needed for the next app to work really well.

FlashCards++

This app is a flash card program (duh).  There are dozens of flash card packets that you can download, which is probably a useful time-waster in itself.  The good thing is that it can use pictures, so if you want to spend a night getting to know who painted which masterpiece, you can.  I use it because it can download an Excel file from Dropbox and convert the information into flash cards.  (The free version can’t download your information – you have to type it in.)  You grade your knowledge on the card on a 1-5 scale.  Cards graded one get shown more and cards graded 5 are shown less.  You can test out of the card and then the program will show it to you again in a few days, a few weeks, whatever.  I used this to learn the 200 most common prescribed medications.  It made it easy.  Build a spreadsheet of Spanish words, street rotations, World Series winners, or whatever, save it into your Dropbox folder, then import the data into this app.  Study away…

Pocket

I use Pocket on a daily basis.  It is an offline reader.  The way it works is that the program gives you a hyperlink to attach to your computer’s web browser.  When you have an article that you want to save for later, click the link and it is saved.  The nice thing is it saves it without all the advertisements.  Then I can spend my shift reading news articles, blog posts, online magazine articles, and stuff like that.

Overdrive

Overdrive is an ebook reader that downloads library books.  It is too small to use with the iPhone very easily (I hate reading books on the iPhone), but I use this on the iPad I carry.  I do download audiobooks into the iPhone with this app.  It is nice to read a book without paying (besides taxes) for it.  Most library systems will give you a card just for asking, so I have library cards for 5 local library districts besides the one in which I live.  I can always find a book this way.

WeatherBug

WeatherBug is my go-to app for weather information.  It seems pretty accurate, plus it automatically updates the weather data and forecast based on where you are, not just at the city level.  There is a sub-program called Spark that tells you how close lightning is to your location, plus live cameras to check the weather.

Yelp

I like to find decent restaurants when I am in a part of town that I don’t know well.  What can I say?

PeakFinder

Mountain view from the hospital.

I’m a map nerd, plus a mountain nerd.  This app uses your location to show you a 360-degree view of the mountains around you, their name, and statistics.  I always find myself wondering what that mountain is, and this way I know.  It probably isn’t a good app for Kansas, though.  But the mountain providers should get a kick out of it.

StarWalk

StarWalk is similar to the PeakFinder app, except it shows astronomical objects rather than mountains.  It can burn a bunch of downtime to teach yourself constellations during a slow night shift.  Plus, I also get curious about what that bright star is, and this app uses the internal gyroscope to show you.  The last bright star I looked up was a planet.  But then I showed off to my daughter like I knew it all along.

Besides zombie killing games, what other phone and tablet apps do you find yourself using on a shift – either to help with your job, or to make time pass more quickly?  Are there better options than what I am using?  I am always interested in good tips and ideas.  Share in the comments.