Have the itch to play doctor?  Well, if you have an iPhone, you're in luck, as the Apple App Store has  many, many health applications you can download, thus allowing you to completely bypass the absolute horror called med school and residency. 

Here are just a few I like, and that you may want to download.  Don't have an iPhone?  Oh, well, you must still be stuck in 2005.  Hop in your time machine so you can ditch that Moto RAZR and get with it. 

(Of note, I have no ties, financial or otherwise with the makers of these products)

• Epocrates Rx:  Tickle your inner pharmacist with this free drug database app.  Epocrates has been around for almost a decade now, and it provides comprehensive drug information that's updated regularly.  The app offers an easy way to check for drug interactions and provides you with regular health news updates.  Probably the most useful piece of the program is the "pill id" portion that brings up photos of the drug so you can help grandpa figure out when she's supposed to the oblong, green pill versus the diamond, powder blue one.

• istethoscope:   Seriously, some really smart guy with a lot of time on his hands has turned the iphone into a stethoscope.  You need a quiet room, but if you do, perhaps you can diagnose the murmur of aortic stenosis in your great aunt or tell your crazy uncle he's got a serious occlusion of his right carotid artery that he may want to get checked before he strokes out at the kitchen table.

• Netter's Anatomy: If there's one book that EVERY SINGLE DOCTOR has owned, it' s Frank Netter's Anatomy Atlas--it's the bible for gross anatomy class and frankly, an amazing piece of art.  Now you can buy it for the iphone-you can see the great images and quiz yourself as you prepare to answer questions about disorders of the pudental nerve to your new patients. 

• Unbound Medicine:  Need the latest in medical data ?  This app allows you to access a series of useful references, like Medline, the database of medical journal articles from the 1950s on.  That way, when your friend asks you "what was the p value in that study last week that came out in JAMA about statins and the risk of CVAs?"  you can just politely excuse yourself to the restroom and pull up the answer in a pinch. 

• ADAM symptom navigator:  Having Crushing Chest Pain radiating to your left arm?  Just type the symptom into this symptom checker and it can tell you that you should call 911 because you're having a heart attack.  See, who needs doctors when you have your iphone?

• MimVista (in development):  Did you just redeem your gift certificate for that full body MRI?  Just dying to see the results?  Plug into this radiology program, which displays images for you (or, more realistically, your radiologist while he or she is on the golf course) to get a crisp, clear view of the pictures.