As mobile devices wiggle their way into every industry, they are proving to be an integral addition to healthcare. They give a travel nurse the opportunity to work on the go, allowing for greater flexibility on when and where he or she can care for patients.
Because of the wide use of smartphones, those in travel nursing should familiarize themselves with helpful healthcare applications that can benefit clinicians on the job.
Dermofit
One in five people in the U.S. will have skin cancer in their lifetime, making it the most common form of cancer in America, according to the American Academy of Dermatology. Clinicians see patients with this condition all too often, as 8,500 new diagnoses are made each day. Now, there's a mobile application that may help those in travel nursing detect early signs of the disease.
According to Medscape, an application called Dermofit was launched in July 2016 as a training and diagnostic tool. Developed by the University of Edinburgh, United Kingdom, the app has an extensive library of skin cancer lesion images. It can be used as a method for teaching clinicians about all the different characteristics skin cancer can take, which may help providers detect the disease earlier. It may also prevent physicians from sending patients to dermatology specialists unnecessarily.
BlueStar
Diabetes serves as another prevalent condition in the U.S. According to the American Diabetes Association, 9.3 percent of Americans had diabetes in 2012, the majority of which were Type 2 cases. The rate of this condition may very well increase considering 86 million adults had prediabetes in the same year. That's up from 2010's rate of 79 million. As with any chronic condition, those affected by diabetes must regularly monitor their well-being and keep open lines of communication with their providers. BlueStar may help.
As the BlueStar website explained, the tool is a diabetes management app that caters information to each specific user. While the app provides general information on diabetes so patients can better understand their condition, it also offers feedback based on unique blood glucose levels. It also gives advice on diet and tracking hyperglycemia. However, the app can only be accessed with a doctor's prescription.
CareZone
Your travel nursing assignments will vary in length, but you might stay at a medical facility long enough to care for patients who must regularly schedule appointments to monitor chronic conditions. As a clinician, this gives you a comprehensive view of the individual and lets you adapt your care practices to their needs. For the patient, though, this creates a lot of paperwork that can be difficult to maintain.
If this is the case, considering suggesting the individual downloads CareZone to his or her smartphone. According to its website, the cloud-based application allows users to store, share and manage health information. For instance, when users snap a photo of a prescription pill bottle with their smartphones, the application automatically collects data like dosage and medication name. It provides a calendar to keep track of appointments and a journal for documenting symptoms.
Epocrates
As a travel nurse, you know how important your smartphone is to conducting quick research on the job. A 2015 InCrowd survey found that 88 percent of nurses use the devices during their shifts, 73 percent of which turn to their smartphones for looking up drug information. An application call Epocrates may make this process easier.
According to the Epocrates, within a single application, providers can check for harmful drug interactions and information on alternative medicine. Depending whether the medical facility has integrated the application in the healthcare system, clinicians can also securely text message one another. The application even provides content on diseases that was peer-reviewed and created in collaboration with the BMJ.
AliveCor
If you care for patients with irregular heart rhythms in your travel nursing assignments, you might suggest they use AliveCor. According to AliveCor's website, this tool uses both a portable heart monitor and a downloadable application to conduct electrocardiograms at home. The patients can share the results with their physicians at the next appointment. In this case, you might also consult with the individual's doctor to determine whether this tool would be helpful.
Nursing Central
This application is similar to Epocrates, only it was designed specifically with nurses and nursing students in mind. According to Unbound Medicine, Nursing Central provides information on anything from drugs to diseases to procedures. It also has study tools to help students learn key concepts as well as abstracts and citations from medical journals. With a quick glance at the phone, nurses can get the information they need, allowing them to deliver higher quality care.
You know you take your phone wherever you go, so why not make it useful in your travel nursing assignments? Keep these applications in mind when you're ready to revamp your mobile strategy.
Excellent apps! AliveCor is great! Now I’ll check the rest from the list.