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The medical app, Anatomy Lab, has been making some big news over the last few days. There have been a good number of blog posts and articles, and CNN.com even has a feature on the app! We actually reviewed the app awhile back in August. We knew back in August how special this app was, we’re happy to see the developers finally getting the praise they are due. Make sure to check out our past review of the app!

The CNN link. Our previous review of the app link.

Hint: We’re going to be giving out some free promo codes for a popular app soon, so be on the lookout! We’ll be busy over the next few days, so be lookout for the following types of apps: EKG app, another procedures app, USMLE study app, an App made for Interns, etc etc(not necessarily in that order).

Reuters has a report on how McGraw-Hill is partnering up with ScrollMotion to bring their textbooks to the iPhone. ScrollMotion develops iPhone apps, and has an e-book reader for the iPhone, called Iceberg reader. Most academic institutions have Access Medicine, the subscription service that delivers most of McGraw-Hill’s medical textbooks. The Harrison’s Internal Medicine text is actually already on iTunes courtesy of Skyscape(iTunes link). The McGraw-Hill and ScrollMotion partnership already has one textbook, “How to Make Money in Stocks”, priced at $10.95. It should be interesting to see if the price point for the medical texts they bring to the iPhone will be the same as this initial book. With all the medical texts they claim to be bringing, It would be nice if they had a subscription service option available similar to Access Medicine.

The link to the Reuters article is here. Scrollmotion’s website is here.

If you type “USMLE Step 2″ into the App Store, you don’t get many results. One of the applications that shows up is the recently released Lange Q&A: USMLE Step 2 CK app, produced by Modality, and costing $33.99. We’ve reviewed other USMLE study apps for the iPhone in the past, such as the USMLE disease deck, and not been huge fans.

This time I was hoping for better results. I’m just a few weeks removed from taking step 2 CK (hooray!), and figured it would be the perfect time to review this app. I’ll admit, I’ve been a fan of Lange products since using their Pharmacology flashcards for Step 1 studying. I found the flashcards to be well written, concise, and high yield.  I wrote this review in the hopes that this question bank on the iPhone would give me similar results.

Update: In response to iMedicalApps editorial and reader feedback, the folks at Iatros Software have lowered the price of this app to $19.99. They have also given us a few promo codes for our readers. Check out the comments section for the codes!

Advances in imaging technologies and skilled radiologists now allow for routine diagnosis of many previously mysterious disorders. Listening for obscure heart sounds and subtle neurological exams still hold a cherished position in medical education but, as one old saying goes, you can replace a whole room of neurologists with an MRI machine.

However, such aphorisms not only raise the ire of card carrying neurologists but ignore the basic problem of knowing which imaging test to order. Many a diagnosis has been delayed or missed in a patient who had a “negative” MRI – the problem was that the MRI was of the wrong body part.

So, what do you do if you are a busy primary care practitioner and a patient presents with, say, hydronephrosis or neck pain or urinary incontinence? There are so many imaging modalities, it is difficult to avoid ordering the wrong or unnecessary test. It is this important problem the eRoentgen applicaton by iAtros software is trying to address.  In this review we’ll see if this iPhone medical app is worth the high asking price of $49.99.

1)PalmDoc.net has a great review on an app to help you train for performing lumbar punctures. The last app we reviewed, Procedures Consult-Internal Medicine, also has an excellent example of how to perform lumbar punctures. But the beauty of the Lumbar Puncture app is it’s only $1.99, as compared to the $40 for Procedures Consult. Procedures Consult consult packs 25 different procedures, so if you just need something for Lumbar Punctures, check out the LP Procedures app instead.

2) Merck Manual just released another iPhone app called Home Edition & Procedures, and it’s been getting some buzz on the internet. The app is supposed to provide quick and easy medical knowledge for patients. A CNET author goes far enough to say it will help save on co-pays and "countless" visits to the doctor, we’re not sure if we’d go that far. We’re gonna try to get a copy of the app for a review. Here is the CNET article. Melodika.net has a writeup on this app as well.

Everyone in the medical field has heard the phrase, “See one, Do one, Teach one”. When you’re a budding medical student and intern, you’re taught to watch a procedure being done at least once, then to perform the procedure under supervision, and then after performing the procedure successfully, teach one.

The Procedures Consult:Internal Medicine App aims to help improve the success of this learning process. This $40 app packs 25 Internal Medicine procedures explained in detail through text, pictures, and videos. The app itself takes up a staggering 462 megabytes of space on your iPhone or iPod Touch. For that much space allocation one would think the app better be good. After using this app over the past week and seeing the responses from other medical students, interns, and residents, I can assure you, it’s better than good.  This app is going to be making our soon to be released Top 10 list of Medical Apps for Residents.  This is an extensive review of an app that is well deserving of the attention.

There’s a good article in the Wall Street Journal about mobile technology and how it’s being used in healthcare. Of note, Blackberry is still leading leading the iPhone when it comes to physicians with smart phones at a tune of 37% to 27%.

The article goes on to explain how how Apple has embraced the medical community and developers who write medical applications. Security was talked about as well: WSJ:

It is security — and the rise of smart phones in medicine — that worries Deborah Peel, a physician and founder of the advocacy group Patient Privacy Rights. The more ways doctors can access their patients’ records, the greater the threat to confidentiality, Ms. Peel says.

The vast majority of health information technology has not been designed to ensure that patients control access to that data and use of that data," she says.

Medical-application developers say their programs are compliant with federal law for protecting health information.

Related to this security, there is another article from InformationWeek giving some knowledge about security measures when it comes to healthcare records.

Continue on to read the rest of the story.

The AllOne Mobile application’s security measures are explained some in the article. AllOne Mobile is the platform being tried out by Blue Cross.

The following is a piece of the InformationWeek article:

Data stored on the smartphone is encrypted for security, and requires a password to access. The application generates a one-time password that has to match with a password on the server to unlock the app. Low-bandwidth data, such as immunization and allergy records, is stored on the client, more data-intensive information, such as X-Rays or scans, are stored on the server.

Its a typical IT architecture where there’s some information stored in the cloud that synchs up with information on the phone. It doesn’t synch all the data on the phone," Palin said.

Here is a piece of their security explanation on their website:

The same proven technology used by the military and in international banking protects AllOne Mobile’s users by securing their information behind a soft-token, dual-authentication protected channel. The state-of-the-art mobile security is made possible through AllOne’s partnership with Diversinet, a leading provider of wireless security applications. Our technology provides users with the peace of mind that even if they lose their phone or password, it will not result in a breach of security

To our readers-

1) Just wanted everyone to know we’re working with the theiphoneappreview site to bring some of our older content to a bigger audience. They will be re-posting some of our older posts, if you click on over to their site you’ll see what I mean. We encourage our readers to check out their site for all your non-medically related app reviews/news. They have some great reviews and they periodically give away promo codes for apps on their site as well.

2) Tomorrow we’re coming out with our review of Modality’s Procedure Consult: Internal Medicine App (iTunes link). We’re really excited about the app and when I’ve let colleagues play around with it and they have had some interesting responses. It’s generating the same type of buzz that came with the Blausen Human Atlas App. Check back here tomorrow to see what the hype is all about.

3) The wrong batch of pictures got uploaded in our last review, for iAnatomy, the issue has been fixed. There is an explanation of the oversight mentioned as an addendum to the review. Thanks to our readers for catching that!

-iMedical Apps Team

While on the wards, everyone tells me reading CT images takes practice, practice, and more practice. Reading CT images is becoming crucial for gross anatomy as well, when I was a first year we definitely had to read cross sectional CT images for gross anatomy tests. This ability is put to practice on the wards early on. The look on med students faces when residents try to take them through an abnormal CT image can be absolutely comical.

When I’m being taught by residents and attendings, they always tell me in order to recognize underlying pathology, you need to first know what normal looks like. What structures should you be looking for at a particular vertebral level? What bones are surrounding certain vasculature in key areas? These are just a few of the questions I was hoping the iAnatomy app, developed by Dr. Anouk Stein, would help teach.

There are some price drops happening on some of the medical apps made by Modality. The drops are on some of their "study apps". The apps included are all the Pre-Test versions, First Aid Q&A for USMLE Step 1, Lange Q&A: USMLE Step 3 and USMLE Step 2 CK. The prices of these apps are dropping 25% until October 31st. My assumption is they’re doing this because we’re in the midst of board studying season. We’re actually reviewing another Modality app right now, Procedures Consult: Internal Medicine(iTunes link). Look for the review in the next few days, so far we’ve had a lot of fun using it. Also, we plan on reviewing some of these Modality apps before the month is over, so be on the lookout for those reviews.

Price Drops: (iTunes links)

All the Pre-Tests: Now $22.99

Lange Q&A: USMLE Step 2 CK ($33.99), USMLE Step 3 ($33.99)

First Aid Q&A for USMLE Step 1: Now ($33.99)

There are a few different medical apps that provide you with reference lab values. I’m going to go through each one to see how they compare to each other and see which ones are the most useful in the wards/clinic. The main four in the App Store are Pocket Lab Values ($2.99), Normal Lab Values ($1.99), MedRef ($0.99), and Lab Tests ($5.99). Each medical app overlaps a decent amount of information, but there are definitely significant differences. Epocrates also has a lab values section, but you need to be a premium member in order to use it (expensive). A key thing to note is different hospitals can have different reference ranges (depending on how their in-house lab works), so always make sure your hospital’s references ranges match up with the app you use. With that said, the reference ranges are usually pretty universal. Anyways, let the battle begin.

This post will discuss how these different medical apps stack up to each other.