A common problem in any medical setting is choosing the best antimicrobial agent for a suspected infection. Having an infectious disease consultation on your smartphone is a great help at the point of care.  There are several  excellent  antimicrobial apps available for clinicians, some free and others  for an annual subscription fee. The features to look for in an antimicrobial app are infectious disease diagnosis information, best  treatment guidelines with evidence,  drug interaction checking, formulary information, immunization and prevention guides, drug dosing calculators and pharmacology information.  All of the apps reviewed work on iOS (iPhone, iPad, iTouch) and all of them download to your device so they work without a continuous WiFi connection. All of these apps list the likely infection by body system and the best drug for the bug. 

Medscape mobile (www.medscape.com)- This is a must have free program from WebMD for all clinicians. It has a referenced drug and disease database with an excellent drug/herbal interaction checker. There is an infectious disease section in the disease category list with antibiotic recommendations by body system disease.  The antimicrobial drugs are listed by classification. There are no dosing calculators, hyperlinks from clinical text to drug information, or formulary lists.

SkyScape Outlines in Clinical Medicine(OCM)/RxDrug (www.skyscape.com) – Skycape is one of the leading producers of e-textbooks for smartphones and PDAs. They have a free reader application in the app store and several reference programs worth installing. The free Outlines in Clinical Medicine (OCM) linked with the free Rx drug reference provide an Infectious disease section with links to the antimicrobials. There is a drug interaction checker

Sanford Guide to Antimicrobial Therapy (www.sanfordguide.com)  –This is the e-version of the little pocket guide that has helped clinicians for over 40 years. The outline format is by body system infection, drug information, or  specific organism. All the drugs are hyperlinked to the clinical disease information. There is a comprehensive table of antibiotics vs. organism susceptibility and spectrum.

Johns Hopkins ABX guide –(www. Unboundmedicine.com )   This program from the Infectious Disease experts at John’s Hopkins and a  great resource for complex infections. There is referenced text  on infections by body system, by organism and by antibiotic classification. The disease information and drug spectrum information is extensive.

Epocrates Rx and Rx Pro  (www.Epocrates.com) -  The free version of Epocrates (Rx) is a database of prescription drugs,  a drug interaction checker, formulary lists,  pill  picture identification and  dosing calculators. It is a must have for all clinicians. Epocrates offers  a paid subscription upgrade for $99  called RxPro  that adds an infectious disease app, herbal medications and basic medical disease information.  The ID app gives users a listing by body system infection, antimicrobial classification or by organism.

Bottom line for general  practice:  Get the free Medscape mobile, Skyscape OCM-RxDrugs  for the best antibiotic choice and drug interaction checking. Get the free Epocrates Rx application for drug dosing calculators, and  formularies. If you work with complex hospitalized patients and need more detailed antibiotic reference  then add either the Sanford or  the JH-ABX guide depending on your preference.  A summary of the  apps is listed in the table below.