App of the Week – Drugs.com Interaction App Suite

We have become a medicated society. It’s a sad fact and a topic for another website. But because of America’s infatuation with pill popping we need to understand the drugs and foods we take in and how they will react inside our bodies. According to the Food and Drug Administration prescription drugs kill over 100,000 people every year. Of that number 35,000 are in nursing homes. Many of these deaths are preventable if the people simply took time to understand what drugs they are taking and talk to their doctor(s) about interactions. You also need to have that in-depth understanding if you are the caregiver or have a loved one in a caring facility. A death or serious medical situation could arise simply by drinking grapefruit juice or eating the wrong foods with prescription drugs.

That is why Drugs.com has been named the App of the Week. The Drugs.com app is actually a suite of apps that cover many areas of drug usage for the consumer and the physician. Drugs.com currently only offers one of these app for the Android platform the rest are on the Apple platform only. We usually frown upon this limitation but this group of apps deserve recognition. Not all of the apps are free but if they prevent a poisoning how much is that worth? Understanding the drugs you are taking is critical for people with chronic medical conditions who must manage an extensive drug regimen, elderly people and people who see more than one doctor for various ailments.

The Drugs.com app suite includes an extremely helpful and powerful Medication Guide for the user. This provides the user a way to look up drug information, identify what pill they have, check interactions and and most importantly set up their own personal medication records. This feature is designed for the mobile user and requires an Internet connection. This app is free and available for Apple and the only app available for Android.

Another feature of the Drugs.com app is the Pill Identifier. Many people, especially the elderly struggle to read the small print on a pill bottle, get drug names confused or simply can’t tell pills apart without help. The Pill Identifier App is a searchable database of pill pictures that contains more than 14,000 prescription pills and over the counter medications available in the U.S. The user can search the database using the text imprinted on the pill, drug name, color and shape. The app is only .99 cents and also requires an Internet connection to view the pill images. It is available only for Apple iPhone and iPad.

The premium version is the Pill Identifier Pro app and is the same searchable database of pill images and sells for $39.95. The entire image database installs directly onto your mobile device, does not require an Internet connection and does not have any advertisements. It is only available for iPhone and iPad.

The Pill Reminder app keeps track of all your medications. When you add a prescription you can also choose to get pill reminders right on your mobile device. The app also allows you to add personal notes, get easy access to vital information about your meds online including information such as as side effects, dosage and safe use during pregnancy. The only thing I would add to this app is an alert that notifies you if a drug you have added to the list creates a dangerous interaction with another drug on the list. How did they miss that? This app is free and only available on iPhone.

Drugs.com is also providing an app for pros. The Drug Reference for Health Professionals is a comprehensive drug reference guide that is rapidly accessible. The app provides critical information about prescribing drugs, including dosing guidelines, drug interactions, potential adverse reactions, warnings and precautions. The entire database installs directly onto your mobile device. The app sells for $39.95, requires no Internet connection and is only available on Apple iPhone and iPad.

A Drug Reference for Consumers app is also available.  It provides easy to understand drug information displayed in a simple and readable mobile format. The consumer can find much of the same information on side effects, dosing, drug interactions, warnings and precautions in the pro version.The entire database installs directly onto your mobile device. It sells for $24.95 and needs no Internet connection. Available only for iPhone and iPad.