Top 20 must-have apps for medical students in 2023
Studying at medical school is tough. Not only have you got to learn everything there is to know about human anatomy, you’ve got to know medicines like the back of your hand, master your clinical skills and ensure you can confidently put everything you know into practice in a real-world setting.
There’s no denying it’s hard work and unfortunately, there are no shortcuts when it comes to the amount of information that you need to learn but there are better ways to embed medical knowledge and manage your time.
There are a huge number of must-have apps for medical students in 2023 which can help you save time, boost productivity, learn more effectively and just generally make your life a whole lot easier. We’re going to share our pick of the top 20 apps to improve your med school experience.
Top 20 must-have apps for medical students in 2023
#1 Capsule clinical case-based quiz app
Capsule is a clinical case-based quiz app that is powered by UK medical school expertise and works on the web and all iOS and Android devices. It provides you with 750 real-world clinical cases and 3,700 plus questions which you can work through to help with your clinical diagnosis & management.
You can create your own quiz or select a random one that you can even save for offline use. You’ll have the option to choose from a range of specialities when studying, these include medicine, surgery, paediatrics, psychiatry, therapeutics, obstetrics and gynaecology, general practice and professional studies.
All of the medical cases and quizzes are aligned to the MLA medical curriculum and are written and edited by senior clinicians, clinical faculty associated with Brighton and Sussex Medical School (BSMS) and partner NHS Trusts.
Content is written by the people that mark your medical exams in years 4 and 5 so it’s guaranteed to be relevant and up to date to ensure you gain the clinical knowledge you need to pass your medical exam.
#2 MDCalc Medical Calculator
Do you squirm at the amount of medical calculations you have to do on a daily basis? If the answer is yes, then the MDCalc medical calculator could be the handiest app for you.
It’s a clinical decision support tool that allows you to carry out medical calculations, process algorithms and scores, and assess risk—all using the latest and best evidence.
It covers 35+ medical specialities and you can effortlessly search for any of these with their ‘Google like’ search function. The platform also tells you which calculations are most popular along with the newest ones added so you can ensure you’re up to date.
Simply input your specifications and the app will give you the formulas you need along with advice, evidence and management tips to ensure you make the best decisions when dealing with clinical cases. It works on all iOS and Android devices.
#3 Forest App: Stay Focused
With all the medical studying which you need to get done throughout your years at medical school, it can be easy to lose focus. When you find yourself scrolling through social media instead of learning about cardiovascular medicine you kick yourself for wasting your time, which let’s face it, is exceptionally precious when studying medicine.
The Forest app is a platform that makes it easy to visualise what your focus and productivity looks like. You plant a seed at the beginning of your study session and the longer you leave it without exiting the app the more your tree grows. If you can’t resist temptation and you look at your phone your tree will die.
Over time, you will have an entire forest built from your focus and commitment. It’s just £1.99 and available on iOS and Android.
Take a look at the website here.
#4 Clinical Odyssey simulation app
This is a medical learning app that provides you with interactive stories for clinical practice. It is a must-have app for medical students because it allows you to access over 600 different stories which make it easy to improve your clinical skills without harming real patients.
You can practice realistic simulations to safely improve your skills and brush up on key concepts learned at medical school.
If you’re bored of the same old dull revision methods try this revision app, it allows you to learn and have fun whilst you do it. It’s available on iOS and Android.
#5 Medscape
This medical app is free to use and can be used as your hub for all medical news, clinical reference and medical education. Receive notifications about FDA approvals, essential drugs, diseases and clinical tools, breaking medical updates, advancements in the medical industry and clinical research.
When you sign up you can also access CME and education tools, and a personalised CME platform will allow you to track your progress and log completed CME activities. You’ll also be able to join a community where you can ask for advice or help.
The Medscape app is available on iOS and Android so you can access it whenever you need to.
#6 Geeky Medics
Geeky Medics is a free medical education platform that provides students with clinical resources to improve knowledge.
Their OSCE guides cover a huge variety of clinical skills and you can even build your own personalised list of guides to make it easy to access them when you need to, these include;
Cardiovascular
Respiratory
Gastrointestinal
Neurology
Musculoskeletal
Endocrine
Obstetrics & Gynaecology
Ear, Nose & Throat
Breast examination
Clinical procedures
History taking
Information giving
Advanced communication
Data interpretation
Emergency management (ABCDE approach)
Written skills
Surgery
The app offers video demonstrations that help you easily improve your clinical skills and you can put yourself to the test with their built-in checklist mark schemes and customisable timer functionality.
Download it on Apple or Play store and start improving your medical knowledge the easy way.
#7 SimpleMind app
A must-have app for medical students to help you break down all the medical knowledge that you learn and avoid information overload.
A mind map is a way for you to lay out all the thinking that goes on inside your brain. It helps you think more clearly by allowing you to collect knowledge and remember and create ideas. So the next time you’re feeling overwhelmed by the sheer amount of clinical cases which you need to get through, take a step back, breathe and map it out on the SimpleMind tool.
Start with the main theme such as psychiatry, from there add your associations such as; anxiety, bipolar, schizophrenia, medicine. Then add your keywords for each of those associations. You can colour code all of these and eventually build a huge map that is a representation of your understanding of a medical subject.
Take a look at their website here.
#8 Brainscape
Brainscape is a web and mobile-based platform that offers medical students the chance to learn lots of information through flashcards.
You can choose from hundreds of colour-coded cards including;
Anatomy
Body Systems
Dentistry
Medical Courses & Subject Areas
Medical Exams
Medical Subspecialties
Medical Terminology
Misc Healthcare Topics
Nursing Courses & Subject Areas
Nursing Subspecialties
Other Healthcare Fields
Pharmacology
Physiology
Radiology & Diagnostic Imaging
Veterinary
The app can speed up your medical learning time because it repeats harder concepts in the optimal amount of time to ensure you remember things more effectively. The next time you’re feeling overwhelmed about the amount of revising you’ve got to get done, pick up the app and learn the smarter way.
Check it out here available on iOS and Android
#9 InSimi app
This must-have app for medical students allows you to practice real-world diagnostic decision-making on virtual patients. Rather than focusing on text-based cases, it allows you to enter a virtual clinic with an unlimited number of simulated patients.
To use the app you simply select your random patient and take a look at their symptoms and complaints. Then you need to work out what’s wrong with them and order the correct diagnostic tests. Review your test results and then make your diagnosis.
It’s a great way to mix up your learning styles to ensure you really understand clinical cases and management. Available on iOS and Android so you can practice at times which suit you best.
#10 TeachMe Anatomy app
This is the perfect app for medical students which allows you to easily learn anatomy. You can access a colour-rich encyclopaedia that contains illustrations and clinical images.
The platform uses 3D anatomy models, houses a bank of over 1700 quiz questions and contains over 400 comprehensive articles covering everything you need to know about anatomy.
You can search by regional anatomy or systemic anatomy and enhance your clinical knowledge.
Have a look for yourself here. It’s available on iOS and Android.
#11 bSafe
As a medical student, you’ll be no stranger to staying late in the library or on the hospital ward. Whether you’re brushing up on your movement and musculoskeletal biology knowledge or refining your clinical practice skills you’ll no doubt be working when the sun goes down.
When walking back to your halls in the dark it’s paramount that you stay safe. BSafe is an app that is designed to be used when you're walking home alone and would like some extra security to make you feel safe.
It’s advanced safety features include an SOS button, voice activation, recording, follow me to keep track of where you are, fake calls, timer alarms, and destination check-ins. It’s available on iOS and Android.
Look at the website for more information
#12 Epocrates App
This is a medical reference app that supports you to make informed decisions in moments of care. Review industry-standard clinical guidelines, receive alerts on a wide range of speciality topics and use the 600 dosing calculators, medical equations and tools.
The platform allows you to review drug prescribing and safety information for thousands of brand, generic, and OTC drugs. You can also look for potentially harmful interactions between up to 30 brand, generic, OTC, or alternative drugs at a time. Lastly, the app makes it easy to identify a pill based on its imprint or physical characteristics.
It gives you expert content when you need it all housed on a mobile app. Available on iOS and Android.
Take a look at the website here.
#13 VisualDX
The VisualDx app is a diagnostic clinical decision support system which makes it easy to tackle challenging diagnosis.
The platform allows you to visualise variations of diseases by using a comprehensive curated medical image library.
You’ll be able to access support for differential diagnosis, testing, and therapeutic decisions, plus it includes a dark skin atlas so you’ll see diseases presented in people of all skin colours which will give you a fully-rounded understanding of all medical issues.
Download it on iOS or Android.
Have a look at the website here.
#14 Remember the Milk
With the sheer amount of studying which medical students need to get done, it can be easy to get snowed under and forget what the main priorities are.
Remember the Milk is a must-have app for medical students in 2023 because it makes it effortless to keep on top of all those learning tasks that you’ve got to get done. The app allows you to easily add tasks with their due date, priority, repeat, tags, and more. You can break your tasks down into smaller, more manageable pieces using subtasks. This is great for those medical learning to-dos which have their own set of subtasks, too.
You will be reminded of these tasks by email, text, IM or Twitter to ensure you never forget to do them. Best of all, you can sign up for free and it’s available on iOS and Android.
#15 UpToDate
UpToDate can be used as your primary resource for medical knowledge at the point of care. The medical knowledge app presents a comprehensive synthesis of evidence, followed by recommendations that can be acted on at the point of care.
All content is managed by a faculty of accomplished physician authors and editors, who are all renowned leaders in their specialities.
You can support your clinical decisions from anywhere as this handy app is available on the iOS and Google Play store.
Take a look at their website here.
#16 Micromedex
The IBM Micromedex app is used in 4,500 hospitals in over 80 countries and for good reason too. The platform offers user-friendly drug information and a wide array of clinical information.
Their database has more than 4,500 search terms: both common and generic trade names, adverse effects, contraindications, indications, and anything else healthcare professionals may wish to know about a drug before administering it to a patient.
The app is available on iOS and Google Play.
#17 Sleep Cycle
Your class timetables change frequently in medical school so it’s crucial that you get on top of your sleep schedule and ensure you wake up feeling refreshed and ready to learn every day.
Sleep Cycle is an app that wakes you up in your lightest sleep. This is because being woken up during your deep sleep moments is what causes you to feel tired and groggy for the rest of the day. Feeling demotivated is not what you need when you’ve got a whole day of nursing care ahead of you.
You can also add sleep notes to the app which will enable you to see which activities had a positive or negative impact on your sleeping patterns. Get it on iOS or Android.
Take a look at the website here.
#18 Pepid medical app
Pepid is an all-encompassing medical app that includes everything you need to make informed clinical decisions including; drug information and interactions, pill identifier, medical calculator, notes and favourites and diagnostic generator.
Medical students love it because it provides up to date information and it’s exceptionally easy to access the medical information you need when you need it. Download it on iOS or Android.
#19 Anatomy Learning
This must-have app allows medical students to explore the human body in real-time. You can see 3D models of all parts of the body which are accurately created by physicians and anatomy experts. The app has 6000+ anatomical structures and offers all medical users a guided learning system.
The app allows you to zoom and remove certain structures, to view the human body in more detail, test yourself with quizzes and it supports Spanish, French, German, Polish, Russian, Portuguese, Chinese and Japanese languages.
Get it on iOS or Google Play.
Take a look at the website here.
#20 Airway Ex
This mobile app allows you to Intubate virtual patients in realistic OR settings. You’ll have lifelike airways which always bleed, breathe and cough. The app will score you on your skill, speed, damage and navigation so you progress each time you use it.
Users can complete dozens of airway procedures and anaesthesia cases whilst augmented reality makes it fun to practice your skills. Real cases are always submitted by physicians and vetted by medical experts which means you can be sure that what you are learning is always up to date and relevant. Get it on iOS and Google Play.
Level up your medical learning
Use these medical apps to level up your learning and ensure that you are using your time in the most effective and efficient way possible. With the right support, you can ace those medical exams and have fun whilst you do it.
