10 Apps to Keep You Safe and Healthy in 2013

When it comes to our health, there should be no messing around. Luckily, smartphone users don't have to go very far.

With thousands of medical applications, it is not easy to figure out how to start or where to turn to. From helping to diagnose a weird pain or decoding a mysterious pill in your medicine cabinet, it is nice to be able to get instant advice in situations where you may have no idea what is going on, what to do or how to identify something.

While it is always important to consult with a physician, we sifted through the bunch and found several helpful medical apps for your digital arsenal.

Emergency

From a jellyfish sting to food poisoning, Everyday First Aid is a one-stop shop for guiding you in the right direction and giving you a solution to remedy your pains. In the instance of an emergency, it offers clear and organized information to nearly a hundred different emergency situations. In addition to review guides for CPR and wound cleaning, its illustrated training guides actually show you what to do and how to do it.

In the case that you need to find a specialty medical center, Emergency Medical Center Locator uses your location to find the closest hospitals to you for burn, cardiac, eye, pediatric, stroke and trauma specialties.

Appointments and Reminders

Before you make that doctor's appointment, check the Healthcare Blue Book to make sure you are getting the best rates in town. The application offers pricing treatments by type of doctor, type of procedure or hospital in your immediate area by giving you price ranges and a "fair price" indicator. According to the website, the fair price is based on an average of the negotiated price that health plans pay to their network providers for a service in a specific market.

Then you can make an appointment with ZocDoc in just a few clicks. After syncing your location, all you need to do is select what kind of doctor you need, the type of insurance you have, and voila! a list of doctors in your area, with available appointment times you can select on the spot.

If you are prescribed to a lot of meds, or just need to remember to take one in particular, use Pillboxie, a visually stimulating application that makes the process more fun than it should be. Simply plug in your medications (name, shape, color), and the app generates a virtual pill (and bottle), which you drag to certain days of the week and specified times. Your phone will notify you when it is time to take that scrip.

Identification

Ever found a mysterious pill sitting at the bottom of your medicine cabinet or lumped in a baggie with a bunch of others? Pill Identifier by Drugs.com has your back. With it, you are able to identify more than 10,000 over-the-counter and prescription pills based on their imprint, shape and/or color. Images and descriptions will help you find your match.

In case you lost the bottle your pills came in, get on-the-go access to information on more than 4,500 different drugs with Micromedex Drug Information. It offers dosing, effects and warning information.

With Skyscape, a self-described "decision-support tool," users can access a medical calculator, with more than 200 tools, that can help determine things like your blood-alcohol content. It also includes a pregnancy calculator and measurement and temperature conversion. Updates in medicine and the clinical field are included, as well, if you want to keep tabs.

Pregnancy

Tracking your pregnancy can be one of the most exciting adventures, as your baby starts to form inside you and your stomach starts to grow. Sprout gives you interactive 3D models of what your baby looks like at certain weeks, a baby tracker to count down your due date, a recorder to track your weight and suggestions on what to bring to the hospital.

As a free alternative, I'm Expecting uniquely allows you to connect with other women in the same stage of pregnancy, compare symptoms and ask questions. It also offers remedies on how to deal with cravings, nausea and cramps.

Image courtesy of Flickr, MacUK, aSIMULAtor, iStockphoto, AleksandarNakic