Many of us in family medicine practice full-scope, including obstetrics. This is one of the most rewarding aspects of the specialty, but also one of the most challenging, with very unpredictable hours and significant medical-legal risk. Many other providers in primary care and ob/gyn may only provide outpatient prenatal care, which is equally rewarding with a somewhat more predictable lifestyle. Regardless of what scope of obstetrics care you provide, a good OB wheel app is a must. However, an OB wheel only gets you so far. Ideally, you want an app that can not only quickly calculate an estimated date of confinement but also allow you to track that patient from conception to delivery. Furthermore, you want an app that tracks labs/rads and reminds you of when key items for routine prenatal care are coming due/past due for a given patient. With so many different OB apps available, which one should we use?
My go-to OB patient tracker for years has been Perfect OB Tracker, an app from Evan Schoenberg, MD. It combines an easy-to-use, accurate OB wheel with the option for patient tracking. This function automatically updates the EGA, etc., every time you open the app and click on a particular patient. I eventually migrated to OB Patient Tracker by Greg Moore, MD. This app did essentially the same as Schoenberg’s app, but included more robust patient tracking details. Both apps briefly disappeared in the upgrade to iOS 11 and its 64-bit compatibility requirement. Now both are back, and Moore recently released the OB Patient Tracker 2. If you are just looking for an OB wheel app, then take a look at Steinberg’s OB Wheels, which is available for iOS and Android.
OB Patient Tracker 2 pushes beyond the standard OB wheel for dating pregnancies by incorporating detailed patient tracking, including dating/delivery information, patients’ family information, labs/rads, birth plans, and even patient location. The app does not seem to reference or include any links to current American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists’ guidelines or other prenatal care information. It’s free to download and use for 7 days, but after that it’s only available by subscription with tiered pricing from $5.99 to $39.99.
The release of OB Patient Tracker 2 fills a void left by Perfect OB Wheel and the original OB Patient Tracker. This is a very handy app for providers who regularly perform OB care as part of their practice. The app has a lot of potential for future enhancements and I hope the subscription service brings evidence-based/guideline recommended testing/reminders to the app, and that a version for Android surfaces. The cost will likely be a turn-off for some, but the app’s simplicity and tracking functions may be worth it. Perfect OB Tracker is a less robust, but cost-effective ($6.99) alternative.
Likes
- Multiple methods of dating included and automatically updates info for each patient
- Tracks labs/rads, procedural data/graphs of operative versus vaginal deliveries
- Numerous customizations including Dropbox backups, mapping, PIN protection, etc.
Dislikes
- No auto-reminders for key prenatal testing — labs/rads/counseling/etc.
- Allows for password protection on app but still some HIPAA concerns (Dropbox)
- Pricing and auto-renew of subscription could be problematic for some
- Not available for Android
This post originally appeared on iMedicalApps.com.
Source: MedicalNewsToday.com
