The iPhone and its cousin iPodTouch have quickly become the preferred platform for medical students and clinicians. Progress was slow in its first year but once the platform was opened up to 3rd party applications in June 2008, it quickly rose in popularity. A survey of the YSM class of 2011 conducted in June 2009 found that a majority owned an iPhone or iPodTouch.

    YSM Class of 2011 Mobile Device Survey
Many of the programs that have been favorites of clinicians on the Palm and Windows Mobile devices - including ePocrates and MedCalc - are available for installation on the iPhone and iPodTouch. The iTunes Apps store has hundreds of free and commercial applications of potential interest to students and clinicians. Most of the applications of interest to health care practitioners are under the "Medical" category.

In addition to applications that can run locally on your device, there are a number of medical resources you can access over the Internet (either WiFi or 2G/3G networks). Some applications are optimized for the iPhone and mimic the look and feel of native iPhone applications. Other Web-based resources (UpToDate, for example) are written to accomodate mobile devices in general and work very well on the iPhone.  The size of the screen remains a limiting factor for some websites that do not accomodate small form factor devices. WiFi connections, where available, can provide fast connections that may exceed AT&T's 3G data network. To use UpToDate and other Yale-sponsored resources from another WiFi network or your mobile carrier's data network you will need to use the VPN. The VPN built into the iPhone/iPod Touch can easily be configured to access Yale resources. See the instructions below to configure the Yale VPN on your iPhone/Touch.

Medical Applications

There are many good apps available for the iPhone/iPodTouch. Some are well-known applications that have migrated from the Palm world and other are newly written applications. Many are free or very low cost. You could install dozens of medical applications and still only use a fraction of the 8 gigibytes of storage space on even the smaller devices. You may find some apps well worth paying for but there are many free medical applications available. For example,  Top 10 Free Medical Apps from iMedicalApps
 
The screenshot of an iPodTouch includes a variety of medical applications. Some are actual installed applications while some of these icons are saved links to Web resources. UCentral is the Medical Library's main platform for delivering licensed medical content. Epocrates, both the free Rx and optional paid versions, is also extremely popular. Get access to UCentral and other licensed applications. Get access to UCentral and other licensed applications.

Web-based Resources
The Safari browser is probably the best Web browser on any mobile device. Nevertheless, many databases, ebooks and ejournals are not easily viewed even on this mobile device. The most usable applications are those optimized for the iPhone/iPodTouch and other mobile devices. UpToDate Online and UnboundMedicine are two of the most useful applications optimized for small form factor devices. Licensed applications such as UpToDate can be accessed from the Yale University or the Yale-New Haven Hospital networks. The preferred WiFi profile at the University is Yale Secure and YNHH_Guest at YNHH. When you connect through a cellular data (aka 3G) or outside WiFi network, you must use the VPN to access Yale-restricted resources.

The CWML Mobile page provides links to optimized programs and other Web-based resources that work reasonably well on mobile devices.

Setting up VPN on the iPhone and iPodTouch

*** Settings are case sensitive. Be sure to enter the Server, Group Name and Secret exactly as they appear below.

• Tap the Settings icon on your iPhone.
• Tap General, then tap Network.
• Choose VPN, then turn VPN On.
• Tap L2TP and enter the following information (All settings are case-sensitive):
  • Description: YaleVPN (or whatever you want)
  • Server: vpnwindows.yale.edu
  • Account: type your Your Yale NetID
  • RSA SecurID: Off
  • Password: type Your Yale NetID password
  • Secret: legacy
  • Tap Save

Turning the VPN Off (or back on)

Once you've entered VPN settings, a VPN switch appears at the top level of the "Settings" list.

• Tap Settings and turn VPN on or off.