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DougiePhresh

macrumors regular
Original poster
Aug 7, 2011
136
280
I am a Certified Athletic Trainer and take a lot of SOAP notes and other medical records on a daily basis and that adds up to a TON of paper to store and keep track of. I have been tossing around the idea of purchasing an iPad 3 and also been researching the best app for uploading a PDF outline form of my notes so that I can write on that and save it as a file and export it to my MacBook. Does anyone have any 1st-hand experience doing what I am trying to accomplish? There are dozens of apps that I have come across, all costing around $5 and I would very much like to not spend an indefinite amount of money just trying to find the best one. I am well aware that this question has probably been asked many times before, but I did a search and didn't find what I was looking for in the first three pages so I gave up and am just starting this thread. I believe the best one I have found thus far is Note Taker HD... anyone have thoughts on this app? I do tend to write very fast so if one app you are thinking of is more responsive but has extraneous features; I would rather the response time.
 
I use "GoodNotes" for school and it works well. It syncs with dropbox, and allows you to do just about anything to a PDF and then save/export it. Pair that with one of those cheap targus styluses and you can write directly on the PDF.
 
The problem, OP, is that all those $5 apps you mention can do the job just fine. So you'll pretty much just have to choose on your own. I'd recommend PDF Expert.
 
I am a Certified Athletic Trainer and take a lot of SOAP notes and other medical records on a daily basis and that adds up to a TON of paper to store and keep track of.

I would love to know of a good PDF annotator, since I could use it to grade some assignments.

If you're doing SOAP notes, have you thought about a specific app for that? I use the one just called "SOAP Notes" (simple enough :eek:) It works pretty well, and has a nice feature of pre-recorded text that you can insert into notes. I for one repeat the same phrases often ;)

http://www.eclectic-dna.com/soap-notes/
 
I would love to know of a good PDF annotator, since I could use it to grade some assignments.

If you're doing SOAP notes, have you thought about a specific app for that? I use the one just called "SOAP Notes" (simple enough :eek:) It works pretty well, and has a nice feature of pre-recorded text that you can insert into notes. I for one repeat the same phrases often ;)

http://www.eclectic-dna.com/soap-notes/

PDF Expert has a custom stamp function that may be of help to you

Like the "Approved" or "Sign Here" stamps, but you can use custom text and color code and save them for quick comments
 
Annotating PDFs

Goodreader is more powerful than Notability, but both can accomplish the task you mentioned.
 
You may already know this...and not trying to sound all medical staff on you, but be careful and make sure your documents are secure on your wireless devices. It sounds like you're handling PHI, you don't want to violate any HIPAA regs. and have somthing come back and bite you..
 
Goodreader

Goodreader also allows you to password protect documents and the app itself. The data and information you keep there will be completely protected even if you leave your device unlocked.
 
Another PDF app

I am currently studying via a distance learning course, I have found the writepdf app on my ipad to be ideal for annotating my course pdfs, and i can edit directly, it saves a lot of time for me to be honest.
 
PDF Pen is a simple, effective one too

you can edit the text of a PDF directly (not many apps allow that)

if they would add a search feature and if it had stamps, it would be my fav (PDF Expert is the one for me so far)
 
I have both goodreader and notability. Having tried both, I personally prefer goodreader. It is simply more versatile, letting me sort out my PDFs more easily, and can even handle other file types like zips. If you plan in inserting lots of typed footnotes, I personally recommend goodreader.

Notability is better when it comes to handwritten notes, but I find the interface is more unwieldy and the scrolling much more leggy.
 
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