The Nokia N8 is a great phone to have around. I use it a lot at the Hospital where I work mostly to take pictures of rare clinical cases, but I want to see more out of it. Recently I have been looking for medical apps around the Ovi Store and did some interesing findings. Talking about med apps there should be noted that there are two kind of apps: those that are directed to patients or non professional and those which are for the health professionals, such as nurses, medics (like myself 
) and so on. While there is a lack of the later, there are some good apps for patients interested on keeping up with their health. This medic roamed the OVI Store with a Nokia N8 and these are my findings:
1. Heart Rate Monitor by Pico Brothers
One of the most simple and yet elegant heart rate monitors on the ovi store. Upon launching the app you are immediately asked if the app can connect to the internet for ads. I know, ads! But this makes the app free for all of us and stimulates developers to keep creating great apps. So on with the app. This app is meant to measure the heart rate and can be used both by patients and health workers, you just have to find your pulse or on your neck. and then tap the screen for every beat you feel. After a few beats you will get a fair measure of your heart beat. Simple and very helpful. Myself have used it to check my patient’s heart rate accurately. Great user interface too!
2. Health n Family by xcube
This app works like a medical file for family members. You can add each family member to the list and add important medic details such as blood type, alergies, medical history like previous surgerys and emergency contact numbers just in case. While it is very helpful to have that info at hand, it is kind of difficult to use it as a reference. There is no way to export the info to a computer file or to print it, so it is very unlikely that a medic will have the guts to access your deeper phone apps in an emergency case. On the other hand, this could be used to create a patient file for those that visit the medic office, but again, there is no way to export / import the info, so it’s unlikely that I would use it in a practical way. Anyways, great way to keep some info at hand.
3. First Aid by Divum
This app is a great one I must say. Is a quite simple first aid reference. The core function is the Act Now option which is a list of emergency cases of all types. In example, what to do in Allergy? Well you can search the word Allergy in the large list and will display the symptoms and definition, this will teach normal people about how to recognize it and what to do in such cases. Excellent for non health profesionals! There is also a list of first aid and medical kit that will let you know what should be a must have in your house. Another option is the life saving emergency techniques which include CPR, Choking, and dressing, great for non profesional with lots of picture and easy instructions. And lastly you can make a medical profile, just in case like in the Health n Family app, but again, I dont think is very practical. Anyways, great educational app for the non profesional. You should all check it out.
4. Blood Pressure Tracker by Migital Technovations
Another tracker for Blood pressure. This will do great for patients who suffer from hypertension. While the user interface isn’t very bright, this app works as it should. After checking the blood pressure, the user should use the Log Entry option and add in the results of the check both systolic and diastolic along with the pulse rate and a note if needed. Then you can see the results in a graph making obvious if your pressure is going down or up or if the current treatment is working. Simple, but nice. As a plus the app also has some useful tips and symptom list of high blood pressure. A way to export graphs and logs would have been nice, but still seems practical to have it on your phone.
5. Bacterium by OffScreen
Found this game while checking medical apps at the OVI Store. While not an app it is a great game that any health professional will find nice. We all like having fun . The gameplay is simple, there is a bacteria growing in a petri dish, they are replicating all the time and after some time these bacteria blobs will produce a critter, this one will crawl out of the dish and make you lose health, until you lose all your life points. The user must use the gun around the petri dish and try to control the bacteria population. This game runs until the user loses all the health, it gets harder all the time but you can go on forever and I can tell you, it’s very addictive. There are power ups dropped by the bacteria blobs such as faster guns, faster bullets, double gun, and super bomb great for when critters are too much to exterminate with the gun. The graphics are awesome and better yet, it is free at the ovi store.
After this short review of the best apps on the store what else do we need? I think there is a lack of apps for the health professionals. There is no drug dictionary, found just one medical calculator at the whole store, it just had 25 calcs and wasnt free. We all need more apps for doctors and nurses, apps what will serve as tools for our work. There is a great market oportunity there and many developers are ignoring it. I will keep an eye there and bring any finding that I consider important. Meanwhile keep healthy .
David Castro
