Planning your shifts

myshiftplanner myshiftplanner.com

Could this be the most useful app a nurse can have? With 280,000 active users, this free shift planning app allows individuals to add shifts to a planner, customise holidays, overtime, training and even swap shifts.

Reviews are positive:

‘As an NHS nurse shift worker, I live by this app.’

‘I am a nurse and use this for my off-duty. By far the best app I have used for recording my shifts… allows you to tailor your shift patterns to your preferences, add notes, set patterns and change colours and is pretty much idiot-proof. Love this.’

Resources for nursing students

Evernote evernote.com

It is no secret that taking on a nursing degree requires full-time effort that relies on careful planning and organisation.

Students are required to undergo 2,300 hours of clinical placements, and there is a demanding academic workload to keep up with too.

This app is a great tool for taking down your thoughts, storing photos, web clippings, complex notes, to-do lists, and just about anything else you can think of when in lectures, as you read books and essays, and even in a break on placement.

There are free and paid-for versions to choose from.

Guidance for nurse prescribers

The British National Formulary tinyurl.com/app-bnf

An essential for nurse prescribers, the free BNF app provides quick access to the nurse prescriber’s formulary, and guidance on treatments, medicines, and drug interactions.

The app can be used offline, so on the ward the content is always there as a digest for rapid reference.

The app includes access to the BNFC, for children.

Managing your money

Yolt yolt.com

Yolt is a secure budgeting app that centralises multiple current and savings accounts, credit and debit cards, sources of income and expenses.

The app helps identify your spending habits and unnecessary costs, and creates alerts for pending direct debits and pay days.

The app has tools to compare vendors and providers and can even be used to manage medical prescriptions.

Alternatives include the free Money Dashboard app.

Meditation and your well-being

InsightTimer insighttimer.com

This is probably the world’s most widely used meditation, sleep health and well-being app. It includes free mindfulness and well-being courses, yoga classes, talks and meditation for adults and children.

The app includes ‘sleep music’, soundscapes, bedtime tales and guided sleep meditations to help users relax and wind down at bedtime. It also has guided meditations and talks by meditation and mindfulness experts, neuroscientists, psychologists and teachers from institutions including the University of Oxford.

COVID-19 research

COVID Symptom Study covid.joinzoe.com/about

This not-for-profit initiative was set up in March 2020 to support COVID-19 research.

The app was launched by health science company ZOE, with scientific analysis provided by King’s College London.

With more than 4 million contributors globally, the project is the world’s largest ongoing study of COVID-19.

It collects data on health factors, including symptom prevalence and social distancing behaviour, to help researchers understand the virus’s spread and potential containment measures.

Don’t forget the Nursing Standard app, keeping you up to date with the latest practice and professional developments. Download it by searching for Nursing Standard on the app store