Updated for 2020 with Latest ATS/IDSA Guidelines
In primary care, we see a high volume of upper and lower respiratory infections. Currently, the United States is in the middle of the annual influenza season with over 22 million cases and 12000 deaths while the world is battling the novel coronavirus outbreak.
Pneumonia remains one of the most common causes of death from infectious diseases both in the United States and worldwide. Some of these patients have community-acquired pneumonia, while others have hospital-acquired or ventilator-associated pneumonia and must receive appropriate antibiotics. Finally, primary care providers are constantly under fire for overprescribing antibiotics.
For years, the American Thoracic Society (ATS) and the Infectious Disease Society of America (IDSA) have issued joint guidelines for the treatment of pneumonia. Additionally, the IDSA has published treatment guidelines for pediatric pneumonia. In 2019, the updated joint guideline on pneumonia was finally released updating the previous 2017 version.
When I ask our resident and fellows to find me the current recommendations some turn to UpToDate, others to Dynamed or Essential Evidence Plus, some simply try to Google the guidelines or open an antibiotic app such as the John Hopkins Abx Guide or the Sanford Guide. All of these are reasonable and contain similar information, but wouldn’t it be nice to have all of that information in one spot — adult and pediatric guidelines together?
Thankfully, Joshua Steinberg, MD, has just updated his useful pneumonia app that has this information and much more on pneumonia in one helpful app. This latest version includes the 2019 ATS/IDSA updates as well and some other under the hood improvements. Dr Steinberg has designed a variety of useful point-of-care apps we have favorably reviewed here on iMedicalApps including PneumoVaccines, Depo Calendar, OB Wheels, Gout Diagnosis, Health Maintenance Visits, Contraception, Step-by-Step Febrile Infant, PreopEval14, PFT Eval, EFM Guide, and PE & DVT Dx Tool,
Evidence-based medicine
Pneumonia Guide (2020) contains the latest 2019 ATS/IDSA evidence-based guidelines and information on both adult and pediatric pneumonia in an easy to use format with improved navigations, tables, antibiotic dosages, and up-to-date references.
What providers would benefit from this App?
Students, residents, mid-levels, family Medicine, internal medicine, emergency medicine. Any provider who treats adult and/or pediatric pneumonia patients.
Price
o Free
Likes
o Easy to navigate, intuitive interface utilizing the latest ATS/IDSA guidelines
o Includes adult and pediatric guidelines and topics such as duration of care, etc
o Includes antibiotic doses, calculators, references
Dislikes
o Basic user interface, lacks built-in calculators, hyperlinks for references
o Tables not “pinch to zoom” or viewable in landscape
o Not available for Android currently
Overall
The revised and updated Pneumonia Guide remains an excellent, “must-have” app to evaluate and treat pneumonia patients at the point of care. The app is now updated with information consistent with the 2019 ATS/IDSA pneumonia guidelines. This particular app by Dr. Steinberg is not yet available for Android. The app improves upon previous iterations with improved in-app navigation, helpful tables, and references (no longer hyperlinked, however). The app is the most efficient and effective way to put the latest pneumonia guidelines to work while in the clinic or on the wards.
Overall Score
o 4.5 stars
User Interface
o 4.0 stars
Intuitive, but basic interface that links itself to other sections within the app for efficiency.
Multimedia Usage
o 4.0 stars
Includes helpful tables, basic pneumonia calculator info, and references without hyperlinks.
Price
o 5 stars
A great resource for free.
Real-World Applicability
o 5 stars
Dr. Steinberg’s Pneumonia Guide app remains the must-have resource for anyone who treats pneumonia patients. The app saves providers significant time compared to looking up pneumonia information in encyclopedic apps such as UpToDate or Dynamed and “bug guides” such as Hopkins or Sanford all of which remain excellent alternatives. Plus like all of Steinberg’s other apps, Pneumonia Guide is free.
Device Used For Review
o iPhone 11 Pro running iOS 13.3.1
Available for Download for iPhone and iPad (not yet available for Android).
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.
