The topic of Brian Toncray’s presentation last week was a bit unusual for a senior paper: Smartphone Apps for Veterinarians. Toncray began by taking a survey of the audience in the Magruder auditorium to see if anyone was still using a Blackberry. Not a single hand was raised. “Good,” he said, “Because the apps I reviewed are only available for I-phones and Androids.”
In researching this paper, Toncray plowed through hundreds of apps listed under ‘veterinary’ in the I-Tunes store and on Google Play. Most he says are ‘not worth the money’. But he did find some good, inexpensive or free apps that may be of practical use to veterinarians. The first one he recommends is Vet Calculator Plus which can calculate everything from blood transfusion amounts to fluid drip rates. And it’s a bargain at only two dollars.
Also recommended by Toncray is a free, easy reference app called Wickliffe which enables the user to enter drug names and get specific information about dosage, indications, and more. A similar app, the Compendium of Vet Products, allows the user to search a drug database by categories like disease and ingredients.
Another free app is Target, an anti-microbial reference guide with information available in easy-to-read charts and graphs.
For on-the-go veterinarians, Toncray found Infinity Lab Retriever, a companion module for ImproMed’s practice management software, that can be used to download lab results to your phone. A similar app, Infinity Pulse, can be used to pull statistics like total revenue and accounts receivable. Toncray thinks both these apps are ‘great for practice owners.’
