Medical Apps for the iPhone

With the advent of mobile technology, mobile health or simply mHealth is born. mHealth is mobile personal healthcare and public reference for health services and information as supported by mobile communication devices, such as cellular phones, personal digital assistants, laptop computers, and other handheld electronics.

Among the emerging technologies for mHealth are current applications available for iOS devices, specifically for the Apple iPhone. The following applications are five of the most widely downloaded applications that help users with their medical needs.
WebMD Mobile
Seller: WebMD
Web: www.webmd.com/mobile
Price: FREE
Category: Health & Fitness

One of the most popular medical apps for the iPhone is WebMD Mobile with more than 5 million downloads since its initial release in October 2008 in the iTunes App Store.
WebMD Mobile is the popular partner app of the WebMD Web site (www.webmd.com).
WebMD Mobile provides 24/7 wireless access to health information to patients as well as doctors using its Symptom Checker, Conditions, Drugs & Treatments, First Aid Information, and Local Health Listings tools. Symptom Checker helps you "select the part of the body that is troubling you, choose your symptoms, and learn about potential conditions or issues." Conditions tool allows you to "find medically reviewed information about conditions relevant to you and learn more about causes,
treatments, and related symptoms." Drugs & Treatments enables you to search WebMD's
"extensive database for information on drugs, supplements, and vitamins and read about uses, side effects, and warnings." First Aid Information is "your handy guide for medical emergencies - from insect stings to broken bones." All information can be accessed even without Internet connection. (Source: WebMD)
SOS 4 Life-Health Records
Seller: LONDON SOS 4 Life
Web: www.sos4life.org
Price: USD 4.99
Category: Medical

Some of the most popular mHealth applications are those that enhance users'lifestyle; these are iPhone apps designed to help people live with their disease. SOS 4 Life-Health Records is a personal health record app that contains multilingual databases of the most common conditions, allergies, and immunizations and that stores patient's crucial medical information such as (1) emergency contacts; (2) personal details, including blood group and organ donors; (3) insurance details; (4) medical conditions, including start date and current state; (5) allergies, including typical reactions and severity; (6) immunizations, including status and dates; and (7) medications, including frequency and dosage. This app translates your medical information into any of the following languages: Spanish, English, German, French, Italian, Portuguese, and Dutch. Users can enter their essential medical information and the interface and patient data are then displayed in any selected language. "SOS 4 Life has been created to help people who travel, live, or work abroad to take better care of their health," stated Heike Unverhau, who created the app in collaboration with more than 20 medical practitioners across Europe.

The app can translate health information into the most commonly spoken languages at the touch of a button and does not need an Internet connection. (Source: SOS 4 Life)
AirStrip OB
Seller: AirStrip Technologies
Web: www.airstriptech.com
Price: FREE
Category: Medical

A number of applications have changed the healthcare environment by empowering patients with information at their fingertips through digital platforms. However, there are existing applications that demonstrate the role of mHealth in supporting physicians in healthcare.

One such physician-friendly application is AirStrip OB by AirStrip TeNike