Last year I reviewed the two most popular (and expensive) dedicated infectious disease guides: Hopkins and Sanford. I made it clear that my preferred guide for years has been Hopkins as I found the Sanford app on older devices slow and clunky.
In 2015, the new and improved Sanford Guide leveled the playing field with Hopkins. My conclusion after reviewing them both back-to-back was that they were essentially equal: same outstanding up to date data, easy to use interfaces, and same price. Yet it was that same $29.99 price that gets most of the students and residents and even some faculty to pause before downloading. The advantage to carrying either Sanford or Hopkins is the ability to get updates throughout the year. No more out-of-date paper guides.
Many students and residents have recommended Dr. Mark Crislip's excellent app, Infectious Disease Compendium (IDC), as a worthy alternative to Sanford and Hopkins. They are surprised when I tell them that I downloaded the app on day 1 with my first iPhone, but every year I still buy and use the Sanford and Hopkins guides. Did I have any good reason to not use IDC with as much confidence as I use Sanford and Hopkins? I decided to finally write a review of IDC to compare it to the competition.
First a little bit more about the Infection Disease Compendium. This infectious disease app is not your typical medical app. It is not sponsored by any drug company or publishing house. It is written exclusively by a board-certified infectious disease specialist in Portland, Ore. The app attempts to bridge the gap between simple drug dosing recommendations and dense textbooks. The writing is authoritative, concise and hilarious.
The Infectious Disease Companion (IDC) has been one of the most enjoyable infectious disease guides for thousands of users for many years. The app's humor, concise writing, and outstanding price make it a fan favorite. More importantly, the medical app contains the proper mix of evidence-based medicine and expert opinion from a practicing infectious disease specialist and numerous links to articles from PubMed and current guidelines from the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA). Some areas of the app could benefit from more information or a dedicated section. For example, there is no Zika virus information in the app currently.
Likes:
- Interface is easy to use and includes universal search.
- Detailed coverage of bugs, drugs, and diseases not just dosing information.
- Hilarious writing!
- Available for Android.
Dislikes:
- May not be as up to date as the competition (sections do not include date of last update).
- May not be detailed enough for providers used to UpToDate and Dynamed.
- Some sections require a lot of scrolling and could be improved with better organization/links.
- Only includes recommendations for adults, no data for children.
Conclusion:
The Infectious Disease Compendium (IDC) medical app is an outstanding infectious diseases guide that continues to give the competition a run for their money. The combination of humorous, yet authoritative writing, along with an easy-to-use interface all at a very reasonable price makes the app easy to recommend. Although I personally still favor the Hopkin's and Sanford Guides primarily for their frequent updates, most providers cannot go wrong with IDC and should check it out.
Check out the full review of Infectious Disease Compendium app on iMedicalApps.com.
Disclaimer: The views expressed are those of the author(s) and do not reflect the official policy of the Department of the Army, the Department of Defense or the U.S. government.