Students and professionals in the nursing field today depend on technology and digital resources to manage aspects of their busy working and personal lives. Finding the best apps to help in studying and organizing patient care tasks can ease the challenges of school and the stress of healthcare workplaces.
We’ve compiled a list of our top 25 best nursing apps, sorted into the following categories:
Best Apps for Nursing Students
1. Medscape
Features: This free app from WebMD provides up-to-date medical news on a variety of specialties, an in-depth clinical reference library, resources for earning continuing education units (CEUs), and a medical directory. It’s a must-have for nursing students and professionals alike.
Cost: Free
2. Saunders Comprehensive Review for NCLEX-RN
Features: Designed for future nurses preparing for the National Council Licensure Examination for Registered Nurses (NCLEX-RN), this app provides intensive study materials and over 6,000 NCLEX-specific examination questions.
Cost: Free trial; subscription required for full access
3. Picmonic
Features: Change up your study habits with thousands of quizzes and 1- to 3-minute mnemonic videos, using techniques proven to improve memory retention.
Cost: Free; offers in-app purchases
4. Med Mnemonics
Features: This app simplifies the memorization process for complex medical terminology through rhymes and acronyms. It even allows you to create and save your own mnemonics.
Cost: $1.99
5. PEPID
Features: With versions for students and various healthcare professionals, this app provides comprehensive information about a range of patient care topics.
Cost: Free
Scheduling and Organizational Apps for Students
6. NurseGrid Scheduling
Features: Developed by RNs for RNs, this app allows nurses to keep track of customized work schedules, manage shift changes and multiple worksites, and sync information with popular calendar apps.
Cost: Free
7. My Shift Planner
Features: Helping nurses and other shift workers with time management, this app is designed to easily schedule complicated shift patterns and synchronize with common calendar apps. The user can record daily notes about shifts and hours worked for better tracking.
Cost: Free; offers in-app purchases
8. JobsDocs
Features: Created by a nurse for nurses, this app helps organize the documentation required to maintain licensures and certifications.
Cost: Free with in-app purchases
9. MediBabble Translator
Features: Communication with non-English-speaking patients is critical for delivering quality care. This app creates a bridge, with interpretation of key medical vocabulary in seven languages.
Cost: Free
10. Nursing Procedure Checklist
Features: When you need a reminder, this app offers both written checklists and visual images of setting out instruments for common nursing procedures.
Cost: Free
Medical Information Apps
11. Nursing Central
Features: To create a comprehensive repository of nursing information, this app combines five popular apps in one: Davis’s Drug Guide, Taber’s Medical Dictionary, Davis’s Laboratory and Diagnostic Tests, Diseases & Disorders, and Prime PubMed.
Cost: Free trial; subscription required for full access
12. DynaMed
Features: This app provides evidence-based clinical information for healthcare professionals, including point-of-care recommendations and objective analysis.
Cost: Free limited use; subscription required for full access
13. Full Code Pro
Features: From the American Heart Association, this app, popular in ERs, allows for quick official documentation of critical medical interventions during cardiac arrest resuscitation situations.
Cost: Free
14. Journal of Nursing Scholarship (JNS)
Features: This app gives you a top nursing journal at your fingertips: Journal of Nursing Scholarship, published by The Honor Society of Nursing, Sigma Theta Tau. And some schools, like the University of St. Augustine, offer access by logging in through their university network.
Cost: Subscription required
15. Diseases Dictionary
Features: Medical professionals can explore a wide variety of symptoms and descriptions of major medical diseases and disorders, prescription drug information, and treatment protocols in this medical reference app.
Cost: Free; offers in-app purchases
Medication Identification Apps
16. Epocrates
Features: Users can easily research prescription and OTC drug information and interactions, use a variety of dosing calculators, and examine insurance coverage formularies for thousands of medications.
Cost: Free; offers in-app purchases
17. Pill Identifier by Drugs.com
Features: This app enables users to quickly search for medications by drug shape, color, name, and imprint within a database of over 24,000 prescription and OTC meds.
Cost: $0.99
18. Lexicomp
Features: Nurses can access more than 20 databases of medication details, including information other apps don’t have, such as IV compatibility, patient education pamphlets, and drug shortage data.
Cost: Free trial period, followed by subscription
19. CredibleMeds
Features: This app, designed for use in ICUs, details drug interactions that have the potential to impact the heart by prolonging the QT interval on the electrocardiogram and/or cause dangerous arrhythmia torsades de pointes.
Cost: Free
20. Nursing Drug Handbook
Features: This resource app provides in-depth background on a variety of name-brand and generic prescription medications, including effects on lab results and pregnancies. It features a strong focus on safety considerations during drug administration.
Cost: Free; offers in-app purchases
Apps for Nursing Specialties
21. Pedi STAT
Features: Caring for children requires tailored dosages, equipment sizes, and treatments, all of which can be accessed on-the-go in this reference app.
Cost: $4.99 in App Store, $5.49 in Google Play
22. Palliative Care Fast Facts
Features: Practitioners can use this app as a quick reference guide for diagnoses, treatments, and protocols related to palliative care.
Cost: Free
23. Oncology Nursing Drug Handbook
Features: Focusing on the unique needs of patients with cancer, this annually updated app offers the most current treatment and medication details for navigating chemotherapy, symptom management, and patient education.
Cost: Free; offers in-app purchases
24. Perfect OB Wheel
Features: This app digitally replicates the traditional gestational calendar using an intuitive interface. Nurses can track multiple pregnancies while remaining HIPAA compliant.
Cost: $1.99; offers in-app purchases
25. Geriatrics at Your Fingertips
Features: Healthcare providers specializing in the care of older adults can benefit from this app, a guide for current strategies, evaluations, and treatment plans for common geriatric conditions and disorders.
Cost: Free; offers in-app purchases
Your phone or tablet can be an invaluable patient care tool when it’s loaded with any of these apps. Take advantage of the many free, low-cost, and valuable subscription options to discover which apps can serve you best.
The University of St. Augustine for Health Sciences (USAHS) offers Master of Science in Nursing (MSN), Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP), and Post-Graduate Nursing Certificates designed for working nurses. Our degrees are offered online, with optional on-campus immersions.* Role specialties include Family Nurse Practitioner (FNP), Nurse Educator,** and Nurse Executive. The MSN has several options to accelerate your time to degree completion. Earn your advanced nursing degree while keeping your work and life in balance.
*The FNP role specialty includes two required hands-on clinical intensives as part of the curriculum.
**The Nurse Educator role specialty is not available for the DNP program.
