Hertencia Bowe, the national health information management program coordinator for Rasmussen College, spoke to Healthcare IT News about some smartphone apps that can help students and professionals be "more knowledgeable, prepared and organized when they're on the job."

[See also: Kalorama: Medical mobile app market worth $84.1M.]

Bowe oversees the development and expansion or the college's Health Information Technology and Health Information Management degree programs and curriculum.

[See also: Race is on for iPhone-like health IT apps.]

Bowe says students and professionals that are pursuing a HIT degree can expect "a career of analyzing medical data, medical billing and coding and health information management," which she says means they must "be able to juggle numerous responsibilities."

Below is a list of the top 10 apps that she recommends HIT students and professionals use:

Drug Flashcards
This high-rated flashcard app has more than 200 flashcards covering the most popular prescription drugs on the market. The application allows users to edit, add and tag the drugs of your liking – making it the perfect application for medical professionals who need to brush up on their knowledge of prescription drugs.

New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM)

Download this app to receive up-to-the-minute scholarship, or more specifically the last seven days worth of published articles from the New England Journal of Medicine. Along with these articles, it allows users to download images, video and more. This application is perfect for students when they are researching articles for class assignments.

Awesome Note
Balancing a busy scheduler requires a powerful organizer. Try using the Awesome Note, a note-taking, calendar-viewing, to-do list-making, map-checking, Google Docs-syncing app. This will help keep students organized and ready for any challenge.

ToodleDo
If an old-school datebook or Microsoft meeting planner isn't cutting it anymore, look to ToodleDo. This app allows users to track project priority, start dates, due dates, and statuses. Even better, it can flag tasks, hide tasks, and create sub-tasks. This organizing tool can help students to never miss an assignment due date or forget to study for a big exam.

Living Medical Textbooks
This application by Projects in Knowledge offers actual medical textbooks on topics ranging from heart disease and diabetes to multiple sclerosis. One of the best capabilities of the app is that the books' chapters are updated every time a new medical discovery is made, making the textbook "living," and easily navigable.

Dragon Medical Search
Too busy to type? Dragon Medical Search allows a user to say a drug or disease's name into their phone's speaker to search for information. Sources like Medscape, Medline and more aggregate data on a chosen topic and offer a wealth of information and resources. This tool will particularly come in handy when students are learning how to code.

mSecure Password Manager
An HIT student or professional will be interfacing with many different online applications and a lot of different software.  The mSecure Password Manager app allows users to store all email and computer-related passwords, plus credit card numbers and more, helping users to access data safely and effectively, anywhere.

Google Fusion Tables and health data
For the HIT student or professional who wants to reach out to a larger community, this is an online database, accessible via smartphone, which allows users to share, combine and examine healthcare data. Offering maps, data sets and more, one of its coolest functionalities is its search tool where users can access everything from "best place to live" to "most common place to have pneumonia."

ICD 9
This highest-rated ICD-9 app features 2011 codes and healthcare data for physicians, hospitals and clinics looking for a handy medical diagnosis coding resource. The app allows users to view codes and symptoms and search through the database to find the exact medical code they are looking for.

Skyscape Medical Resources                                                                                                             Skyscape Medical Resources, compatible with the iPhone/iPod touch/iPad features a collection of free Medical Information and Decision Support resources for healthcare professionals. The free app features current medical guidelines, drug guides, interactive algorithms, calculators and more.