With the increase in use of technologies such as Smartphones, tablets and e-readers, mobile devices are now a part of our everyday lives. These technologies have become increasingly popular over the past few years and have the ability to be truly transformative in our work flow as well as the way we communicate with one another other globally. To that end, the ACC has developed several mobile resources for you and your patients that hopefully you will find helpful.

The CardioSmart Explorer App is the first medical app by the ACC, was previously available exclusively to members of the ACC for free, but is now also available to the general public for a nominal fee (to download the App click here). The app is available for the iPad 2 and is designed to help you explain medical conditions and procedures to patients and thus enhance the clinician/patient relationship at the point of care. (Watch the demo video below or click here). Physicians and health care professionals can review and discuss common heart problems and treatment options by utilizing the app’s high-resolution cardiac graphics and animation, as well as walk step-by-step through the structure of an animated 3-D beating heart by swiping up or down through seven basic layers of normal cardiac anatomy.

In the works is the AnticoagEvaluator App, an ACC risk assessment tool that will launch at ACC.13. This tool is an easy and fast way for clinicians to assess stroke and bleeding risk and the benefits and risks of antithrombotic therapy in patients with chronic atrial fibrillation. The app will be free for ACC members and will be available for use on iPhone, iPad, and Android devices starting in early March.

In addition, the ACC has created a new ACC Connect App for members. The App is available for both iOS (iPhone, iPad, and iTouch) and Android devices, and allows cardiovascular professionals to stay connected through their electronic devices. Features include a searchable member and ACC staff directory, the ability to update individual contact information, news feeds from the ACC, and access to important ACC phone numbers. As a member, I encourage you to check your own profile for accuracy. To download on an iOS device, click here. For Android devices, click here.

For those attending ACC.13 in San Francisco, meeting attendees should download the ACC.13 eMeeting Planner App. This easy-to-use App allows you to personalize your meeting by searching for sessions by specialty, interest area, and role in the cardiovascular care team. Plus, get access to Expo info, animated maps, Twitter feeds and more (to download the App click here).  There will also be several sessions at ACC.13 targeted at mobile technologies and social media. Watch these tutorials on "How to Create and Export Your Schedule" and "How to Use Filters" for a more detailed look at using the ACC.13 eMeeting Planner App.

The ACC also offers ways to review CardioSource.org content on your iPhone, iPod touch, iPad, Android and Blackberry through the CardioSource Mobile App. Further, several of ACC’s print publications feature apps including the JACC iPad edition App (which was named one of the top medical education apps, and one of Apple’s top 80 medical apps); the Cardiology magazine App available for the iPad, iPhone and iPod touch; and the CardioSource World News App for the iPad. Other mobile resources include heart songs and ACCEL.

Further, CardioSmart offers several mobile resources for patients. The free CardioSmart Med Reminder app is designed to help patients take their medications as prescribed in addition to serving as a personal medication record (PMR) to help patients communicate to their health care providers about medications. Other mobile resources include free SMS text messaging services for patients in the U.S. looking for tips to prevent cardiovascular disease or to quit smoking.

There are so many tools and different ways we can impact health care. I do hope you find these tools useful in your daily work, providing you with content and tools at your fingertips for improved efficiency and effectiveness in providing health care.  Under Incoming President John Harold, MD, MACC’s direction next year, I am confident the ACC will take its digital strategy to the next level, with even more mobile offerings and tools to help the cardiac care team and their patients achieve their goals.

[youtuber youtube='http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DLUXh1QiSQY']

< Back to Listings