This week I had the pleasure of working on a segment with Dr. Keri Peterson, Internal Medicine and contributor to Women’s Health Magazine! We discussed some incredible medical apps and sites that we feel people should really consider for their own benefit. Oh, and I was joined on-air by Al Roker and none other than Brooke Shields!
ZocDoc is a FREE app as well as a website, which I think is great and very helpful for those who may not have a smartphone. This app or site helps you find a doctor nearby. You simply type in the specialty of the physician you need along with you current location and you will see doctors pop up that are located all around you. You can even type in your insurance carrier to narrow the search a bit. Once the doctors are up, you can read reviews from people who have visited their office before. This is a great tool if you get sick on vacations and need to find a doctor right away. Another plus is that if you or your child gets sick in the middle of the night, you can book an appointment through the app or the site for the next morning. ZocDoc currently serves more than 40% of the US population across 1,800+ cities—and it’s growing!
This is a FREE app for you iPhone where you can log the different activities, foods or conditions that may trigger migraines. So let’s say for instance that I suffer from migraines, this app allows me to keep track of everything I am doing and eating every day. The app then crunches all of the data and creates charts and graphs. When I feel a migraine coming on, I can go back and see what I exposed myself to a few days before. The hope is that after a while you might notice a pattern like, “the day after I drink red wine, I get a migraine”. You can then email your doctor with the data about your triggers. That way the doctor has all of the information before you come into the office, making it easier to facilitate the discussion and create a better treatment plan.
This is like having a pediatrician in your pocket! Everything a new parent needs to know at your fingertips. This is a FREE app for your iPhone that can help you manage baby’s schedules, keep track of all of your doctor’s appointments as well as the baby’s medical records. The app even has a growth tracker so at each wellness visit to the doctor you can assign a photo and enter and track your baby’s height and weight and use the child growth calculator to determine your baby’s growth percentile! That’s cool! It even has a built in baby book where you can add photos and videos to it to share with your family and friends via email and Facebook. I wish this had been around when my son was little!
This site is so useful because it provides information on over 24,000 drugs including prescription and OTC drugs, as well as natural products. I really like this site (oh, and there is an app too) because I can lookup all sorts of information about medication I’ve been prescribed as well as information about different meds I have seen in ads on TV. I also like the peace of mind to be able to check to see if anything I am taking could have an interaction with another drug or even some food I may eat. It has a section called “My Drug List” where you can add your medication so that you always have that list on hand. It is also filled with informative up-to-date articles on new drugs for different conditions which is great for consumers who are trying to educate themselves on possible choices to discuss with their doctors. It is wild, literally, because the drug info is not limited to humans! It also has a list of veterinary drugs that are listed by species—everything from Alpacas to Zoo Animals and everything in between!
This is the official American Red Cross app and I love it! It is an incredible resource for the common person to use. You can use this in an emergency that is either major or minor. For example it could be what to do if you burn yourself with hot water, to finding someone unconscious and what steps to take before you call 911. It provides detailed step-by-step instructions on what to do when dealing with a situation. And if you are having trouble understanding the instructions, it also provides videos to help you understand the procedure. It is really useful in an emergency as it is fully integrated with 911 so you can call EMS right from the app at any time. It is full of useful safety tips for severe weather situations and advice on how to prepare for them. And if you think you know it all, you can test your knowledge with interactive quizzes dealing with emergencies and life saving. This app is an absolute no brainer!