Put the lab in your pocket, for free

“Mobile apps for smartphones are changing the way doctors and their patients approach medicine and health issues” – Vincent DeRobertis, vice president of Research Now.

These aren’t just empty words.

Based on their research 86 percent of healthcare professionals believe that health apps will increase their knowledge of patients’ conditions,

but only 16 percent of healthcare professionals use these applications in direct interaction with their patients. As awareness about these apps keep growing, it’s estimated that these percentages will significantly increase in the next few years.

As we can see, new mobile apps are slowly becoming mainstream, especially the so called “pocket lab” applications, which are an interesting choice for every healthcare professionals.

By using these apps — doctors, medical and laboratory staff, students — can quickly access the most crucial information such as tests reference range, or causes of increased or decreased values for a particular test.

It’s noticeable that healthcare professionals keep experimenting with these apps, and the apps are getting better, smarter and more reliable each day.

That’s why we decided to test every available pocket lab application.

In this post we’ll present the most detailed, easy to use and innovative applications…the ones we can easily recommend.

Do you want to know more about them?

Great.

Let’s start with…

Bonus: Download our ultimate list of best and free to use pocket lab apps, and find one that best suits your needs.

Quick Lab Reference

This app is much more than an app for checking test reference range. With all its features, we can consider it as a clinic manual for doctors.

With over a half of million downloads and excellent use ratings, Quick Lab Ref is surely one of the most popular pocket lab apps for android devices.

It has everything a doctor or a medical student could need — a detailed insight and explanation of the most important parameters.

The user interface is simple, and once you open the app the first thing you see is “Search”. Search is a great feature for quick access to any test, and it works quite well. You just need to enter the first few letters of a test you’re looking for, and the app shows you the search suggestions immediately.

It also contains detailed explanation for each test, from minimal and maximum value to reference range by gender, including pediatric values.

“Quick Lab Ref application is really a great app for any doctor as it deliver a logical, transparent and detailed explanation for each test. It’s like a clinical manual, not only for lab reports, but for a complete approach to patients.” – Sara Marić, medicine student

Reference values are available in CI (USA) and SI (Europe) measurement units. As a user you can’t edit the normal test reference values, and we consider that to be a slight drawback.

On the other hand, the app is really rich with data — you can even read about virus types, as well as some subspecialist test generally not used in primary care.

It adds more depth to the app, but it also makes it impractical to use in situations where you urgently need some info. Available only in English and free to use.

	Fast search Detailed Easy to use CI and SI measurement units
	Complex Only on English Normal test values cannot be edited

Despite these small drawbacks, this application is excellent and we have no problems recommending it to doctors, laboratory staff, and medical students.

Cito! Lab Values Medical

Anything you might need in primary care – this app has it.

Same as in Quick Lab app, measurement units are presented in CI and SI format.

Simplicity, and easy and quick access to the info you need is what makes this app special.

Even though it’s a simple app, it presents data in a very intuitive way. For example if you open the hematocryte test, you’ll see the short name of the test, short definition, and symptoms and diseases related to this test — and all this info is shown on a single screen.

Cito pocket lab app was downloaded on over 100 000 devices, and it has pretty high user ratings. All this showed that Cito app is a choice of many doctors and students around the world.

	Easy to use Easy access to its content CI and SI measurement units
	Some basic tests missing Only English and Russian language Normal test values cannot be edited Ads are shown in the bottom of the screen

You’ll get the most out of this app if you use it as an addition to Quick Lab Ref application, for those times when you urgently need some info about a certain test.

Docty

Docty is one of our favourite apps, and it’s quite interesting.

It’s a relatively new app, developed just few months ago. It has perfect user ratings and its secret is simplicity and a “flat” design. It’s free of any unnecessary menus or windows — focus is on laboratory tests.

In comparison with Quick Lab we quickly realize that Docty seems more like a lite version of a pocket lab app, as it lacks some of the basic lab tests.

The app was developed by a medical student who is a tech enthusiast as well. This was his first and so far only contribution to medical community in this way.

We consider this app special as it’s made with enthusiasm, and we hope future updates will bring some new, innovative functionalities.

	Simple to use Nice design No adds Lacks content Tests cannot be edited No adds
	Lacks content Only on English Tests cannot be edited

Out of all apps that we tested, we found these three the best choice. Nevertheless, each app we tested had its advantages and disadvantages, and we think that most people will select their favourite app based on their personal preference.

That’s why we made a complete list of free pocket lab apps. We’d like to hear from you which app you liked the most, and which one helped you the most in your everyday work.

Bonus: Download our ultimate list of best and free to use pocket lab apps, and find one that best suits your needs.

Wrap-up

No matter how good we are at our jobs, it’s never a bad idea to have a manual, just in case.

Luckily, we are surrounded by advanced technology which makes it possible to have a manual on our smartphones, instead of carrying it as a book.

There will always be prejudice towards those using these apps on workplaces, but it’s also irresponsible to act as we know it all. Why wouldn’t we use the benefits of technology, as it’s always better to check twice before doing anything.

Doctors, students, lab staff or patients won’t lose anything if they choose to use these apps as their personal assistant.

Actually, we believe that there will come a time where not using these apps as a form of self-control will be considered as irresponsible.

And in the end, we have to be aware that none of these apps can be a substitution for doctor’s knowledge and expertise. It can only be his assistant or a pocket manual.

We hope that this post puts more light on mobile medical applications, and that we made it easier for you to select the best app for you.