Vet Appidemic: Target Reference & VetCalc+
Alert the CDC! It’s here: the first installment of the VMD Technology Appidemic.
New to this? Check out the Veterinary Appidemic intro post »
Here’s how this is going to work. Each article will detail a manageable number of apps including their name, platform (Apple vs. Android, etc), pricing structure, where to download, and some idea of what it does (and doesn’t) do.
If you want the master list of app topics, check out our Apps & Downloads section.
The first installment is a double-shot…
Target Antimicrobial Reference Guide
The small animal practitioner’s familiar guide to treating microbial infections now comes in a handy app format. You may know this in the book form that is sponsored by Bayer and often provided free to veterinary students.
If you aren’t familiar with Target, this is veterinary medicine’s go-to antibiotic quick reference published by the North American Compendiums and developed by veterinary clinical pathologist Dr. David Aucoin. At the time of this post, it is in the 4th edition.
Target ranks the efficacy of common antimicrobials against the most common pathogens based on site of infection. Complete with graphs and tables, the content is based on the latest standards in antimicrobial susceptibility testing.
The app version supercharges this reference and is overall easy to navigate and use. It has a built-in formulary and allows you to search by antimicrobial or site of infection.
Don’t forget to check out the “information” section for the very useful “Antimicrobial vs. Pathogen” chart detailing their entire list of antibiotics against various bugs.
Price: Free (thanks, Bayer Healthcare!)
Conclusion: an excellent free resource for the small animal practitioner (and others). My only complaint is the lack of some common antibiotics such as azithromycin and metronidazole.
Download & Further Information: App website, available on iOS and Android.
Vet Calculator Plus (VetCalc+)
Given my very unscientific straw polling of colleagues, I’m willing to bet you have not yet discovered the Veterinary Calculator Plus app. It’s one of my newer, but frequently used apps. This highly rated app provides 29 useful veterinary calculators designed for veterinarians, students, and veterinary technicians.
It is published by the VetApps company in the United Kingdom.
Simple and practical, this app provides an array of useful tools in a very intuitive layout. Some of the functions include calculators on drug doses, fluid rates, CRIs, dilutions, blood volume, emergency drugs, as well as age, blood gas values, and diet calculators. It also has a nifty echocardiography value evaluator, a heart rate counter, provides unit conversions, and has a parturition date calculator for most small animal species.
Additionally, all default values are customizable to fit your personal preferences and your clinic’s inventory. When you open the app for the first time, a prompt asks you to customize these values if desired. Find the starting default values used here.
The app is smartly designed to allow you to save and share your results (think emailing your colleague or nurses when transferring patients). Best of all, the app has a modern and professional design and is updated frequently.
Price: $2.99 (Note: a scaled down free version is offered as well. Compare versions.)
Conclusion: a useful resource that is intuitive and modern. For $2.99 it’s a steal! It would help to know about the authors and a list of references used. I’d also prefer a help function for each calculation detailing the math used.
Download & Further Information: App website, available on iOS, Android, and BlackBerry.
