Testing medical apps on the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1

For the past few days, I've been spending a lot of time with the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1. This is a super-slim slate tablet running Android 3.1 (Honeycomb) and it's delightfully fast and responsive because it's powered by a 1 GHz dual-core processor. The tablet I'm testing was provided by Sprint and it's the Wi-Fi version.

Given that I have an iPad and several other slate tablets, I'm using reference points that are probably familiar to most of you. If you're familiar with the Android OS, then you'll find that the Galaxy Tab is very easy to use, even though it uses Android 3.1 where all the navigation is done via on-screen buttons. The only hardware buttons you'll find on the Galaxy Tab are the power and volume buttons. There's no back, no home, no menu, no search. All of that navigation is now done on the screen.

The Galaxy Tab 10.1 has a nice wide screen and the resolution is 1280x800. App developers are still in the process of creating apps for these larger screens, so you won't find too many Android apps that will leverage the large screens on these tablets. Most of the medical and health apps are still designed for smartphones and they won't run in portrait mode.

Let's look at a few examples of free Android medical apps running on the Galaxy Tab 10.1:

Epocrates  
This app works in either portrait or landscape mode. Nice! The user experience is essentially identical to the experience on a smartphone. This app hasn't been optimized for a large screen yet.

QuantiaMD
The main page only works in portrait mode. You'll view content in landscape mode. This is the same on a smartphone. The QuantiaMD app on a Galaxy Tab also leverages the large screen and displays a running list of discussions on the left column. This is a nice feature. I'd like to see the main page in landscape mode. I'm sure that will be coming soon. I invite you to join QuantiaMD. For a limited time, you will receive $10 for joining and confirming your clinician status on QuantiaMD.

Medscape
This app mainly works in portrait mode. Plus, some of the content is formatted for a smaller screen, so it's not optimized for a large tablet yet. The current version is v1.05 and I'm sure they'll soon release an update that will allow you to use this app in both landscape and portrait mode.

Doximity
Sorry, but it doesn't look like Doximity is available for Android 3.1. You can find Doximity on your Android smartphone running 2.2 or 2.3, but it won't show up in the Android Market on my Galaxy Tab 10.1.

MedpageToday
This app works in either portrait or landscape mode. Nice! The user experience is essentially identical to the experience on a smartphone. This app hasn't been optimized for a large screen yet. I actually don't use the MedpageToday app very much because I'm always online. I prefer to visit the site using a mobile browser.

Skyscape
This app works in either portrait or landscape mode. However, it currently shows up as a really small screen on the Galaxy Tab 10.1. I'm sure that Skyscape will have an update to fix this soon.

MPR (Monthly Prescribing Reference)
This app works in either portrait or landscape mode. Nice!

There are certainly many other medical apps that I could mention, but these are the ones I picked for this review. Eventually, I predict that just about every Android app will work in either landscape or portrait mode. This is inevitable given that the same OS is powering smartphones and tablets.

As I continue to test the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1, I'll post additional thoughts, photos, and videos of my user experience, so stay tuned. I want to thank Sprint for giving me the opportunity to test the Galaxy Tab 10.1.

Free Echocardiography Atlas app for your iPad #ACC11

I'm here at ACC 2011 and everyone has an iPad. The iPad is everywhere on the exhibit floor. All the cardiologists seem to be using iPads to view EKGs and echocardiograms.

It's great to see the attention mobile apps are receiving at the ACC Central booth. I saw Epocrates, Skyscape, and other mobile app providers speaking with cardiologists about mobile apps.

This week, Epocrates is giving away the Echocardiography Atlas for free. You can download this app for free from April 2nd to April 10th. This app is available for iOS.

If you swing by the ACC Central booth, you can pick up a free 1-year subscription to Epocrates Essentials for cardiologists.

One in Five Physicians Likely To Purchase an iPad

One in Five Physicians Likely To Purchase an iPad, More than 60 Percent Intrigued By New Device According to Epocrates Survey 

SAN MATEO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Epocrates, Inc., today announced its top-ranked clinical reference application for the iPhone® and iPod® touch devices will be customized for the new iPad™ computer tablet. The iPad is already receiving a warm reception from the healthcare industry with nearly 20 percent of clinicians expressing plans to purchase in an Epocrates survey conducted days after the Apple announcement.

“By optimizing our software for the iPad, we are capitalizing on the larger screen real estate and interactivity provided by this sophisticated device. We are committed to providing the most productive experience at the point of care, keeping physicians informed and focused on the patient rather than searching for answers”

“By optimizing our software for the iPad, we are capitalizing on the larger screen real estate and interactivity provided by this sophisticated device. We are committed to providing the most productive experience at the point of care, keeping physicians informed and focused on the patient rather than searching for answers,” said Rose Crane, chief executive officer of Epocrates. “We are continuing to explore the advanced capabilities of the iPad and ways it can help Epocrates address the evolving healthcare technology needs.”

In addition to announcing its engineers are using Apple’s SDK to optimize Epocrates’ offerings for the iPad, Epocrates surveyed more than 350 clinicians to gauge their interest in the new tablet. Findings include:

* Nine percent of survey respondents plan to buy the iPad when it was immediately available,
* Another 13 percent plan to buy it within the year,
* Thirty-eight percent of respondents expressed interest in the iPad with the request of more information to solidify their purchase decision.

Epocrates®, the first medical application available using the iPhone SDK, was quickly adopted by medical professionals across the nation. Today, as the most popular medical program in the Apple app store, more than one in five physicians are actively using Epocrates on their iPhone or iPod touch. The majority of Epocrates’ 275,000-plus physician subscribers actively use its free or premium software on a “smartphone” such as an iPhone, Blackberry® or Palm® device.

More than 900,000 clinicians worldwide rely on Epocrates software at the point of care to help improve patient safety and increase efficiencies with fast, reliable access to a host of clinical information, such as drug dosing, health plan coverage and disease treatment guidelines.

ABOUT EPOCRATES, INC.

Epocrates is a leading provider of clinical information and decision support tools to healthcare professionals. Epocrates currently has more than 900,000 healthcare professionals, including one in three U.S. physicians and 40 percent of medical students, in its active network. The company’s subscription-based services enable healthcare professionals to make more informed medical decisions, reduce medical errors and practice more efficiently. For more information about Epocrates, please visit www.epocrates.com/company.