iMedicalApps » App Review

USMLE Step 2 Secrets app allows for board studying in mobile form [Android app review]

iMedicalApps Team — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 17:00:04 +0000

By: Jason Paluzzi, MS4

In medical school, a student has two main jobs: study hard and take tests. While we all have different tests and evaluations based on which school we go to, we all inevitably have to run the gauntlets of the USMLE Step 1 and Step 2.

Most medical students seem to agree that First Aid for the USMLE Step 1 is the single best resource for that exam. Unfortunately, there isn’t much consensus on the best study tool for Step 2.

One of the commonly recommended, broad-scope resources is USMLE Step 2 Secrets, a question and answer format text meant to be a review of material leading up to the test.

Skyscape has converted this book to mobile app format for on the go studying of clerkship material. In this android medical app review I’ll do an in depth review to see how the book translates over to mobile form.

Like many skyscape apps, the app sits within the skyscape app suite, and opening it brings up the Table of Contents. This is a broad list of subjects such as Pharmacology or Neurology. Opening any of these brings the user to a rather bland screen with a list of questions. Rather than indicate what these questions are about, they are simply numbered. It may have helped to give each question a small title to help the user remember where they left off or to know if they need to access that particular question.

The other way to browse the app is through the Main Index, a complete alphabetical listing of all specific subjects covered in the text, such as Abdominal Pain or Adrenal Tumors. There is a helpful search bar at the top for rapid location of a subject, useful for when you want to quiz yourself on something specific before rounds. When you bring up a specific topic here, you’re treated to the first in a series of questions about the topic.

One thing that immediately jumps out is that the text is quite small. Luckily, you can change text size [first picture has larger text size], but the bright orange text of the questions makes it slightly harder to read. A deeper color would be much appreciated for long term studying. There are up/down arrows for cycling through the questions, and a lightbulb icon for showing the answer (when showing the answer, there is a “?” icon instead). These icons are far too small, even when enlarged to their maximum capacity.

With the impressive screen size of the new lines of phones coming out, there’s really no reason to put a tiny up arrow right next to a tiny down arrow. It is definitely a source of frustration that is unneeded during long study sessions. What’s more, these icons are situated at the beginning and end of the text, rather than in a consistent, organized location.

Another gripe about the question screen is that the back button on Android devices does not always bring the user back up to the list of questions or list of topics. Instead, it cycles backwards through the questions in reverse order from how the user went through them, a redundant feature given the up and down arrows on the touch screen. It makes the app unnecessarily difficult to navigate. I’m unfamiliar with the iPhone interface, but this may have been done because the iPhone lacks the 4 function buttons seen on Android phones. If that’s the case, this functionality can easily be corrected for Android users.

While the specific content of the book and its adherence to test content is beyond the scope of this review, the question and answer style format of the text lends itself very well to mobile studying. Each question acts like a flashcard for the user. However, these aren’t one word answers; each question comes with a broad scope of information that will promote solid understanding of the material. Rather than spitting something out, you’re made to explain what is correct and why. While everybody has their own study style, I found this to be very effective.

There is also a 100 top secrets section; this is simply all-text high yield facts [above picture].

Likes:

-Flashcard format is great for quizzing
-Scope of answers promotes understanding of material

Dislikes/Future Updates I’d Love to See:

-Edition: The app is currently based off the second edition of the book, which is now in its third iteration.
-Icon sizing needs to be much larger. Also, there’s no reason not to have all icons organized at the top/bottom of the page, rather than situated wherever the text ends.
-Navigation of the app can be particularly cumbersome, especially when trying to move up the tree of folders.

Pricing: The Step 2 Secrets app is priced at $31.95 for a standard subscription. This includes free content updates for a year and continued use of the app after the free update period. This pricing is cheaper than the third edition of the book in text format, $35.95 at Amazon, but definitely more expensive than the second edition that you could buy from an upper level student.

Conclusion: Unless you find it difficult to set aside time to sit down and study, I would recommend the text format over the mobile format, due especially to navigation issues. While the flashcard format is great for quizzing yourself, there’s no need to cause yourself the occasional frustration trying to make your way through the app when you want to be learning. What’s more, we’re all on a budget in medical school, this same edition can be obtained far cheaper in book form.

Jason Paluzzi is a third year medical student with interests in neurosurgery, trauma, disaster response, and healthcare for the underserved. He recieved his undergraduate degree from the Johns Hopkins University in 2008.

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Archimedes 360 is a medical calculator that can answer the most common or the most obscure questions [Android app review]

iMedicalApps Team — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 12:00:08 +0000

By Jason Paluzzi, MS

Information is everything in the field of medicine. Often, it’s necessary to evaluate laboratory or prognostic data in ways that even the most up to date medical computer system cannot provide. Other times you may want to evaluate a patient’s prognosis quickly for point-of-care medical decisions or for speaking with family members. For these reasons, it’s useful to have a quality medical calculator on hand.

This is where Archimedes 360 comes in. While some calculators focus on a specific subset of medicine, Archimedes aims to be an all inclusive calculator, with well over 200 equations (In all honesty, I didn’t count, but I’ll take Skyscape’s word for it). These equations vary in scope from physiological principles (such as the A-a gradient) to prognostic values (ABCD2 stroke score) to pharmacology and population-epidemiology.

When opening the app, you’re greeted with your keyboard and the search field. This is great for finding what you need right away. The app has a very simple interface, with three ways to organize the calculators. In the Main Index, you get the complete listing of every equation in the app. They’re listed alphabetically, and the search bar at the top helps you jump to just what you need. With the large number of equations, and some variability in naming, this view isn’t the best for finding an equation when it’s needed. Rather, I would recommend it for browsing the list in your leisure time, to discover new tools that you might not have previously been aware of.

Next up is the Specialty Index. Here, equations are split into over 50 different categories, from specialties like Cardiology and Neurology to subsets like Alcohol and Students. This view is much more effective at locating the equation you need when you need it. A third view, Table of Contents, appears identical to the Specialty Index, except it doesn’t come with a search bar and has a folder structure rather than pop-up windows. Maybe I’m missing something, but I don’t see the utility of having this third view.

After choosing an equation, you’re brought to a new screen that starts with various input fields and radio buttons for the equation’s variables. These are all very clearly delineated and easy to use, and the equation auto-completes once they’re all placed. The results are in a bold faced, slightly green font that allows easy recognition of the answers. But that’s not all you get. You also get a view of the equation written out, as well as a reference and additional information explaining the utility of the equation. You’ll also see a normal range of values where appropriate. These are all very strong additions that make this calculator much more useful.

Despite this simple interface, the app isn’t without its flaws. For one, there seems to be some oddly placed equations in the contents, such as indications for a chest x-ray in neurology. Other equations simply don’t have much utility, like calculating age from a patient’s date of birth. Because of this, it would be useful if users could move equations around within the Table of Contents. Even better would be the inclusion of a favorites menu, so students and providers could have all the equations they use regularly in one place.

Pricing

The Archimedes 360 app is priced at $24.95. This includes free content updates for a year and continued use of the app after the free update period. You can also get a “1 year subscription” for $21.21, which includes free new editions of the app during the subscription period. As a medical calculator, I can’t recommend getting a subscription to this app. I don’t expect the math behind any of these equations to change significantly over the next year prompting a new release, and if an edition should come out that is a must-have, you can simply buy the app again, saving you from spending $21 dollars every year.

Likes:

Extremely extensive list of equations
Opens into search bar
Extensive subdivisions into specialties
Additional information for each equation

Dislikes/Future Updates I’d Love to See:

Pricing – the main competition on the Android platform, called Mediquation, costs $4.99
Favorites menu
Customizing the table of contents for improved efficiency

Conclusion

Archimedes 360 has a very simple to navigate interface and an extensive list of medical equations to satisfy every type of provider. It also has information to supplement its equations to add an educational experience to its use. It’s a little pricey, though, so if you’re on a budget it may help to look elsewhere. There is also a free version of the Archimedes calculator that comes with the free skyscape suite, which is the same app with less equations. It’s a good idea to see if the free version suits your needs first.

Jason Paluzzi is a third year medical student at Wake Forest University School of Medicine

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Frog Dissection lets you see the insides of a frog while keeping your iPad clean

Felasfa Wodajo, MD — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 10:00:18 +0000

We could not miss the chance to highlight the first (we believe) animal dissection app for the iPad. Frog Dissection by Punflay shows you, in about a dozen quick steps, how to open up the abdomen and chest of a frog and see what the various organs are.

The app has already garnered the PETA Mark Twain Ethical Science award. We are not sure if this will start a new venue of competition among medical app developers but it certainly shows off the different ways in which medical education and a tablet device could converge.

We were impressed by the quality of the images on the app, some of which are shown here. The app is very easy to use and the various stages of dissection can easily be grasped. Once the dissection steps are finished, a series of screes show beautiful 3d representations of the viscera with useful text descriptions.

The main drawback is that the dissection only goes in one direction and animations are not really user controlled. Meaning, the dissection knife, for example, only goes in one direction and in one order. In that sense, it is not really a “dissection” but rather a series of animations that culminate in the organs being displayed. In the future, it would be interesting if the dissection could be done “wrong” or if the organs can be taken out and replaced in different orders. [iTunes link]

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New Innovations iOS4 update allows health care professionals to track procedures easier

Yousif Alkadhi, MD — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 03:00:56 +0000

As a medical resident, our program uses New Innovations web service to track procedures and duty hours. If your program happens to use New Innovations, then their recently updated iOS4 app is a must have!

I’m always a fan of any app that going to save me time, money or energy, and this app does two out of the three (not bad for being free). I’ve been using their GME application for over a year now, however until their most recent update, it only served as a procedure logger, and was fairly limited at that.

There were no options for saving your user name or password, and although it was great to have a quick way to instantly keep track of procedures, I just wasn’t using it every day.

With the roll out of iOS4, many app developers are using the opportunity not only to add new features, but to polish up their apps as well, and this one happens to reap the benefits.

As mentioned above, the application now allows you to track duty hours directly from the phone. And while I may not have a procedure to track every day, it does feel like I work almost every day, which definitely means I have plentiful opportunities to use the app.

Additionally, the application now allows for user ID and password saving, so I don’t have to re-type my credentials numerous times daily. With so many user names and passwords I have out there for the various EMRs we use at home and away rotations, one less thing to have to remember and re-type is warmly welcomed (and a time saver).

Navigating through most of the app is very scroll and click friendly, and it works reliably. If you don’t happen to have internet access, you can still input and save your hours / procedure information, and simply “sync” with the NI servers later.

This app won’t replace using the NI website entirely. After you sync your data, it disappears from your device, forever residing on NI’s servers. That means you won’t be able to locally review all of your synced hours or procedures from within the app. And you don’t have access to any of the other NI features, such as reviewing evaluations or writing evaluations (if your program uses NI for feedback).

Again, the best part of the app is that it replaces the act of taking notes, saving me time and effort. Whether it was writing or highlighting a patient’s name on a list or even typing a “note” in my phone, now I can skip directly to logging and 60 seconds later I’m done! All in all, this app update is a welcome addition and gives me another reason to reach for my phone on my walk out after a shift.

New Innovations: iTunes Link

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Cardiac ultrasound teaching brought to the iPhone – Echocardiography Atlas medical app gets reviewed

Amit Patel, MD — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 12:05:28 +0000

Cardiac ultrasound represents an often-called-upon imaging modality for diagnosis and surveillance in a wide range of both inpatients and outpatients, including those with myocardial infarctions, congestive heart failure symptoms, cardiomyopathies, congenital valvular abnormalities, suspected endocarditis, and so many more symptom presentations and illnesses.

Not only should cardiologists be facile with the interpretation of echocardiograms, but many physicians and physicians-in-training can benefit from a familiarity with formal as well as beside ultrasound imaging of the heart.

Here we review the Echocardiography Atlas App, edited by a Harvard Medical School professor and designed by Modality.

Edited by Dr. Scott Solomon, Associate Professor at Harvard Medical School and Director of the Noninvasive Cardiac Laboratory at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, the Echo Atlas App is designed in conjunction with Modality.

Founded in 2006 and headquartered in Durham, NC, Modality prides itself as a “premier developer of interactive learning, assessment, training and reference apps.” Since the App Store launched in July 2008, Modality has released more than 140 apps for iPhone®, iPod touch® and iPad™ in partnership with Elsevier, CSI, McGraw-Hill Professional, Pearson, The Princeton Review, Thieme Publishers, John Wiley & Sons, and Wolters Kluwer, among others. In our opinion, Modality has a solid and substantial history of producing well-built educational apps, especially those for health care education.

As for the app itself, the Echo Atlas is organized into twelve chapters of normal and abnormal echocardiograms, as shown on the app’s home screen:

The app encompasses 250 annotated images and 189 videos, all organized into these 12 chapters shown above. Clicking on a chapter, such as “Aortic Valve Disease,” brings up the chapter’s associated images and videos:

The video buttons depict which images have associated videos with the particular finding and ultrasound view. Moreover, chapters are also searchable for specific terms.

Alternatively, the “All Figures” function from the home screen brings up the entirety of the Echo Atlas’s collection, sorted by chapter but with the ability to quickly search for a desired image or video:

Regardless of how a topic and view is selected (here, bicuspid aortic valve in the parasternal long-axis, or PLAX, view), the app features an annotated image with or without a video, and several sentences highlighting the topic as well as pointing out a couple key elements to observe on the image and video:

The images (here, the normal exam in the PLAX view) are generally well-annotated with labels, and have the option to toggle the labels on or off:

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Results of using Google translate for medical communication on the Android OS

iMedicalApps Team — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 13:52:51 +0000

by: Jason Paluzzi

Whether you’re a medical student, resident, nurse, or physician, you’ve no doubt encountered a language barrier at some point in your career. Interpreters are available for common languages in most settings, but if time is an issue, you may need to deliver care faster than an interpreter can arrive.

Over the years, people have gotten by with language dictionaries, hand gestures, family members, blue phones, and even smart phone apps all of which have proven somewhat cumbersome and impersonal in their own way.

Google Translate presents a possible solution to this problem. As an extension of their widespread integration of speech-to-text throughout the android platform, Google created a language app centered around a straightforward concept; enter one language, output in another.

While not explicitly a medical app, this functionality could easily be applied in a clinical setting. Without compromising privacy with extra people, the non-english speaking patient would be able to interact directly with their physician and receive accurate and timely care.

The app has a very simple interface. There is a text input field with a speech to text launcher, a language selector, and lists of “starred” favorites and recent translate history. To begin with, this app comes with a whopping 58 languages, including common encounters such as Spanish, Chinese, and Korean to more rare selections like Haitian Creole, Yiddish, and Galician. They are too numerous to list here, but, needless to say, if this app doesn’t have the language you need, you won’t have an interpreter on staff that speaks it either. There is also a convenient flip button that changes the source and destination languages. The favorites menu is a great time saver. Once you’ve entered in your own database of history and physical questions in English, they can easily be called up and replayed in any language.

Even such a minimalistic interface is not without its faults. The recent history menu has little utility after creating a thorough favorites list, unless several unexpected cases occur that require the same translation. Also, with so much screen real-estate, it’s a little surprising that only two lines of input text are visible at a time in portrait mode. Switching to landscape mode gives a much larger, paragraph sized entry field. This criticism is more or less irrelevant here, however, since most of this app’s utility will come from the speech button.

Hitting the speech button brings a pop up that cues the user to speak into thephone. A quick analysis later, and the app displays the translated phrase in text, along with a favorites and playback button. The playback voices are surprisingly good for the languages tested; both English and Spanish sound fairly natural and have proper accentuation as well as accents. Unfortunately, they do not reflect the intonation of questions. At the very least, you won’t have to subject your patient to a Spanglish accent, which can be fairly alienating despite the good intentions.

Now, down to the heart of the matter; can it translate? In order to truly evaluate the app’s potential, we decided to put Google Translate through a field test. We asked an experienced Spanish speaking standardized patient if they would participate in a Google Translate led interview. We wanted to see if it could get us through a history and physical in an active hospital environment.

I am a relatively soft spoken, deep voiced individual, and it quickly became apparent that unless I changed my speaking habits, the interview could not be conducted. At my normal speaking tone, Translate had difficulty separating short, monosyllabic words, oftentimes combining two spoken words into one translated word. At a normal pace, the app had difficulty marking the beginning and ending of words, oftentimes joining the last half of one with the first half of another. As soon as the app turned “What brings you into the E.R. today?” into “What turned you into heart attack,” I knew a change of tactics was in order.

Speaking slightly louder than conversational volume with a clear pause between words helped Translate fair much better. At the cost of sounding silly and harsh myself, Translate put out mostly correct grammar and 100% correct nouns and verbs for the remainder of the interview. While Translate was more consistent in translating natural Spanish into English than the opposite, it was still not enough to prevent having to speak differently. Having to ask a patient to speak loudly and with word pauses is time consuming, distracting, and unrealistic, especially if they are in acute distress.

While there is no substitute for speaking the same language as your patient, it’s unfair to ask physicians to learn so many languages. Hopefully, we can use technology to bridge the gap for us. One could argue that, without 100% accuracy, an app like this is useless in the clinical setting. While it might be possible to get by with a few grammatical errors, vocabulary errors such as the one above could be catastrophic. Even in a mock interview, our patient had an immediate negative reaction when the phrase “heart attack” came up at the beginning of the interview, and this could quickly lead to a serious medical error. Google has big plans for real-time translation, and they expect it to vastly improve in the next few years. As it stands, however, we can’t afford to compromise patient care by early-adoption of this technology.

Likes:

Speech-to-text-to-speech preserves the doctor-patient interaction
Huge list of languages to choose from
Easy to use interface with convenient favorites and language flip features

Dislikes/Future Updates I’d Love to See:

100% Accuracy

Conclusion:

Google Translate shows a lot of promise, and can be useful for the tourist or the physician who wants to practice a language in their own time. In the clinical setting, however, both the physician and the patient would be better served by a medical dictionary or blue phone. The app is free, so don’t be afraid to take it for a test spin, and keep an eye on the evolution of this software in the coming years.

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Hello baby app by Pampers is great pregnancy tool for expectant mothers and OB/GYN physicians

Iltifat Husain — Tue, 06 Jul 2010 20:07:41 +0000

Hello Baby – Pregnancy Calendar, made by Pampers, is a must have application for expectant mothers. It’s made for the iPad, and best of all, it’s free. This application is also a great resource for OB/GYN physicians to use in the office setting with patients. Other providers who perform prenatal visits, such as family medicine practitioners, could use the app in the same capacity.

When you open up the app you are shown a picture of a fetus, and can scroll through to the applicable gestational week. Once at the correct week, you are able to view key anatomical information of the fetus. The app allows you to connect to the pampers village website, and also has social integration built in.

How this app could be used with patients:

If you have an iPad in the office setting and you perform pre-natal visits, this is a must have application to use with patients. Along with informing your patients of the key benchmarks during their pregnancy, they would appreciate being able to visualize what you’re talking about. Often times the best part of a pre-natal visit is when you check for fetal heart tones – the highlight of the visit for patients and family members. This iPad app allows your patient to now visualize their fetus, adding to the already standard auditory feeling received from the fetal heart tones.

On a side note, it’s great to see free functional apps being provided by companies such as Pampers. Although this app is a blatant advertisement for the company, it provides a great level of functionality and service for patients.

Visit the App Website »

View Customer Reviews on iTunes »

Download Now on iTunes for Free »

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New England Journal of Medicine releases an iPhone app – free access to content for a limited time only! [App Review]

Iltifat Husain — Fri, 18 Jun 2010 05:30:43 +0000

The New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) is to the medical world what the Wall Street Journal is to the business world. The Journal is often considered the “standard”, and they have now released an iPhone app for the content on their website and journal. The app is called “NEJM This Week”, is free to download, and for a limited time you can access all the content for free – so download it as soon as you get a chance.

On initial impressions, this app provides a wealth of knowledge at your fingertips – but we did have some issues with the app that will be discussed later.

With the New England Journal of Medicine App you can access four main types of content: recent articles, images, audio, and video. The audio provided is in the form of weekly literature summaries, along with audio versions of four full Clinical Practice articles. For the clinical practice articles, you are presented a case and and then walked through the guidelines and steps required.

There are five “how to” NEJM videos: LP, chest tube insertion, A-line insertion, performing a paracentesis, and then BP measurement. Most medical professionals have seen these videos already at some point in their training. They are in the same old school quality – but still useful.

Now for the main gripes: Why isn’t this on the iPad as well?! That’s where reading medical literature and viewing pictures is a great experience – on the big screen! The iPhone is a great medium for the content, but with popularity of the iPad, one would assume the NEJM would have come out with an iPad version of the app as well.

Our second issue, from the description of the app on iTunes and the name, only content that is 7 days old will be available through the app. We’re hoping this is expanded later, but it’s doubtful from the name of the app. It would be great to have the ability to access the archives of the New England Journal of Medicine using this app – especially since you have access to the archives on the desktop experience.

Another question we have is the ability to use a proxy server to access the app. Obviously, the ability to access content for free is only being offered for a limited time, and soon there will be a login screen on the app – but what about those of us who access the NEJM off site through our academic affiliations? It seems as if we’d be left hanging. Hopefully there is a workaround around this issue.

Overall, the NEJM iphone app is nicely done, but without an iPad version and full access to the archives, it leaves us wanting more. We’re also hoping to see more medical journals take the leap and make applications for the iPhone, Android, and Palm platforms. As more medical professionals get smart phones, providing another medium to access literature seems only nature.

NEJM iTunes Link

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eGoWorks allows you to Store, Manage, and Share Endoscopic Data with your iPhone [Review]

Amit Patel, MD — Fri, 11 Jun 2010 16:52:43 +0000

Built primarily to function with Envisionier’s endogo and endogo HD portable endoscopic camera systems, the eGoWorks manager software and accompanying app facilitate online data storage and collaboration for endoscopists. Here we review eGoWorks from Envisionier Medical Technologies, an intriguing tool that facilitates data storage, management, and sharing by endoscopists.

In this review, we will first discuss Envisionier and their endogo systems, then examine the eGoWorks manager software and its features, and finally we will consider the eGoWorks app and its capabilities.

Based out of Woodstock, GA, Envisionier was founded by Dr. Patrick Melder, a practicing otolaryngologist and former chief of ENT at Walter Reed Medical Center. Awards on Envisionier’s website include the Maryland Incubator Company of the Year in 2009 and the Young StartUp Ventures Top Innovator Award.

Its flagship products include the endogo and endogo HD portable endoscopic systems (pictures to the left), which represent, to our knowledge, the first forays into portable hand-held, battery-operated endoscopic video cameras (that connect to most rigid and flexible scopes).

Without having handled and used the actual endogo systems, we cannot comment on their quality and ease of use, but we can clearly see the utility of portability compared to the traditional tower- or cart-based systems when it comes to endoscopy. This review will be focused on the software side of these tools, including the iPhone app

We first explore the eGoWorks manager desktop software, to which endoscopists can easily upload videos and images from the endogo endoscopy systems, or from other sources, if the files are readily available. Once logged into the web-based software (shown below), the user can select a patient to review all of his/her applicable reports, videos, and images (easily identifiable from the icons in lower-left corner of each file).

Features of this manager software – but not necessarily the app, as explained below, include: filing endoscopic exams by demographic characteristics, generating reports by choosing and annotating still images (and then printing the reports), video editing and image adjusting, and online sharing of endoscopic video and images via a secure, HIPAA-compliant environment. A compare feature allows for the side-to-side juxtaposition of multiple images or videos for easy visual comparison. The software also allows for flagging and collecting videos or images as favorites, a neat way to collect examples of normalcy and pathology for showing and teaching patients or medical trainees. Images can also be adjusted in terms of sharpness, hue, saturation, brightness, and color offset.

The software also features some basic video editing capabilities (shown below), including trimming video (the scissors icon) and extracting still images from video (the circle-containing folder icon). Moreover, the “Share” button near the top-left corner of the screen allows for the sharing of a link to desired videos/images via e-mail to patients, referring/consulting physicians, or other colleagues.

The app itself (shown below) has more limited capabilities compared to the manager software, but the two automatically sync.

Log-in reveals a list of patients with a search bar (shown below), somewhat similar to the manager software.

Clicking on a patient brings up a list of his/her associated videos, images, and reports (shown below). The “Capture” button in the top-right corner allows for the addition and upload of files to the selected patient from the smartphone camera or existing albums (with intriguing potential for GI tract-associated skin lesions, for example).

Clicking on a particular file brings up the report, video, or image (shown below). The app allows for the sharing of a file (“Share” button in the top-right corner) via e-mail link, similarly as discussed earlier for the manager software.

Summary:

The endogo and endogo HD systems represent intriguing advancements in endoscopy, though we have limited ability to comment on the hardware. The associated eGoWorks manager software and eGoWorks app appear to be useful, functional supplements to the endogo systems. Obviously, the endogo systems in conjunction with the web-based software should allow for the minimization of the usual cart-based systems, especially useful for portable endoscopy (for scoping ICU patients, for example). For physicians with multiple practice locations, or for the ability to access a file right before hitting the operating room, the web-based access appears very useful. Moreover, Envisionier reports the ability to integrate data acquired with the endogo systems with many EMR’s, though we did not have a chance to attempt any data integration. The majority of current endogo systems users are otolaryngologists, though Envisionier reports increasing numbers of urologists, gynecologists, and gastroenterologists joining the user ranks.

Focusing more on the manager software and app, the sharing functions (available through both the software and the app, through which users can e-mail links to reports/videos/images to patients and other physicians) represent a valuable enhancement to physician-patient and physician-physician communication. The compare functions (only available through the software, not through the app) can allow for the physician to quickly and conveniently review past and present exams with patients, potentially enhancing compliance with lifestyle recommendations and/or medications. The ability to generate reports (only software, not the app) with annotated still images and print them, as well as the ability to flag images as favorites for models of normalcy or pathology for teaching purposes, also appear useful.

Pricing:

The eGoWorks manager software and app are included for free with the purchase of the endogo (first-generation, list price $7500) or endogo HD (list price $12900) systems. If not an endogo system user, there is a $1000 one-time account fee (that includes 5 GB of storage space and two user accounts, with an additional $1 monthly fee for every 1 GB beyond 5 GB) for the eGoWorks software and app.

Likes:

-Ability to share links to videos/images with other physicians/patients
-Compare function (on software) allows for seeing videos/images side-by-side
-Seamless syncing between endogo systems and the manager software, and between the software and the app

Dislikes/Future Updates I’d Love to See:

-No video editing, image adjusting, or report generating features on app (must use eGoWorks manager software)
-Integrated tightly with endogo, but less robust (and very expensive!) with other systems (manual uploading of images/video)

Conclusion:

The eGoWorks software and app represent powerful, well-integrated (and free) adjuncts for endogo sytems users, but appear somewhat cumbersome and rather expensive for non-endogo systems endoscopists. A definite thumbs-up for endogo systems users, but we find it difficult to recommend the software and app for physicians that use other endoscopy systems.

Acknowledgments: A big thanks to Jeremy Brooks, the Senior Software Developer at Envisionier, who was kind enough to take the time to coach me through a training tutorial for the eGoWorks manager software and app and answer my questions.

eGoWorks Website

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Can Android teach EKG interpretation? An overview of three popular Android EKG apps [Android medical app review]

Brett Einerson — Tue, 08 Jun 2010 08:37:22 +0000

Repetition, repetition, repetition. Most of the information I retained from the first few years of medical school is what I learned by repetition. Unless I use some bit of knowledge regularly, I tend to forget it. Reading an EKG is one of those skills in medicine that requires a lot of background knowledge, the ability to recognize patterns, and the clinical experience to know what looks “okay” and what looks “definitely not okay.” While no app or textbook can replace the practical skills that one acquires through months or years of interpreting real EKGs and seeing patients, it helps to have a quick reference of ground rules and basic pattern descriptions to refresh one’s mind on the basic reading rules of EKGs.

Medical students and residents have been carrying around pocket-sized EKG manuals for decades. But over the past several months a few ECG/EKG apps have cropped up on the Android Market, hoping to fill the need for an electronic alternative.

Here I take a look at three EKG interpretation and learning tools for Android mobile devices: EKGdroid, EKG:Advanced, and EKG Calipers. Can Android really replace those pocket manuals and teach the next generation of doctors to read EKGs?

EKGdroid ($2.99) by Webpatient.net

EKGdroid is not a flashy app, but it has many of basic tools needed to interpret an EKG.. The interface is very basic in comparison to iPhone apps we have reviewed (ECG guide, Instant ECG, ECG Interpreter). But the learning curve to navigate the app is essentially zero. The user selects among the common normal and abnormal rhythms, and a zoom-able rhythm strip appears. The user can navigate among the sub-menus to learn about characteristics of that rhythm.

This app is good for students who are already familiar with the basic theory of EKG. The app will be useful to a 3rd or 4th year medical student or junior resident trying to refresh their memory on the basics of various rhythms and their causes.

This app is not good for students who want to learn “from scratch” how to read EKGs. This app lacks information on basic EKG principles, like determining axis and rate. In general, the app does not teach how to understand EKGs, but rather how to identify common patterns of pathology on EKGs. This point might seem subtle, but trying to read EKGs without a basic understanding of the theory is an exercise in futility.

Finally, let it be known that EKGdroid is not an exhaustive manual of EKG interpretation. Only the most basic information about each rhythm is presented.

EKG: Advanced ($1.99) by simpaddico

For those who love flash cards, EKG:Advanced is a great app for a quick quiz of EKG knowledge. Like EKGdroid, this app is extremely easy to use and navigate. The app uses the Q&A style and quick-feedback that physical flashcard lovers enjoy. A Main Deck of cards contains all of the available questions, and the Faves menu allows the user to store wrongly-answered questions (or any set of cards) in another Faves Deck, which can be “flipped” through later. Alternatively, the Ignore function will remove cards from the deck. The Search function is useful – searching both questions and answers for the search term. Settings allow the user to shuffle the decks, or view the answers to each card first (presumably to guess the question – like Jeopardy?). I am still trying to figure out how one might use the Index.

Surprisingly, and unlike EKGdroid, there are no rhythm strips in this deck of flash cards.

In future versions, I would love to see a “make your own flashcard” function.

This app is good for flashcard buffs or students who know something about EKGs and want to test their knowledge of EKG with random questions.

This app is not good for an organized approach to learning EKGs. The Main Deck is arranged in a seemingly random order, which is no way to learn EKG principles for the first time.

EKG Calipers ($0.99) by HC Dev

Trouble determining the heart rate on an EKG? EKG Calipers is a simple app that can be calibrated to estimate heart rate by holding the edge of the phone to an EKG. I guess the theory is that a caliper app reduces the need for (and cost of) another tool in the white coat.

This app may not be useful for health care providers and students who (1) trust the rate given on the electronic readout, or (2) trust in their own ability to calculate the rate on a EKG readout. But for 99 cents, it might be worth a download.

Summary: Can Android teach EKG interpretation?

In short… not yet. As compared to the iPhone apps we reviewed (see above links), these Android apps, as a group, fall short in three major areas.

1. No organized approach to learning EKG physiology, anatomy, and theory. None of these apps individually (or as a group) teach the basics of EKG interpretation in an organized manner. Without a great deal of prerequisite reading or background lectures to form a foundation of understanding, students will find these apps to be of little use.

2. Lacking depth. The information on these apps is, as you would expect from the price, only superficial, and does not compare to pocket EKG manuals or iPhone EKG apps.

3. Aesthetically blah. Like many of the medical apps currently available on the Android Market, these apps favor function over form. While not unattractive, these apps look… well… bland compared to the polish and prim of the iPhone competition.

So for now, Android users who want to use their mobile device to learn how to read an EKG have a few options: (1) buy an EKG textbook (or pocket manual), (2) call the nicest Cardiology fellow you know when reading EKGs, or (3) hope for further development of these and other EKG apps in the Android Market.

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STATworkUP app has potential as clinical decision support tool but is not yet robust [App Review]

iMedicalApps Team — Thu, 03 Jun 2010 07:57:19 +0000

By: Jessica Otte, MD

STATworkUP, now in its fourth version, is an App designed to help clinicians with the diagnostic thought process and to provide them with evidence-based facts about symptoms and disorders. If you are not a health care professional who does diagnostics, this probably won’t be your thing (and it will be over your head). Self-proclaimed ‘Medical Decision Support computing,’ this software approaches clinical decision-making in a way that mirrors actual practice.

Program Layout:

The layout is straightforward but I would not say that the workings of the program are equally as obvious. The bottom menu bar provides the ability to search Symptoms, Studies, Diagnoses, and Treatments.

To start, one can use the menu bar to navigate to Symptoms, select a few symptoms from the list, press ‘Findings’ to review the choices, and the proceed to ‘Differential’ to get the goods. The Symptoms section is the only one in which multiple entries can be selected.

Under Studies, Diagnoses, and Treatments, each entry, once highlighted, will reveal more information about that subject. Then, it can be correlated with a subset of Problems/Disorders/Tests/and Remedies which are alternate names for the Symptoms/Studies/Diagnoses/ and Treatments contents.

What I Liked:

Overall, there is a lot of information below the surface in this program. Contained within the information section of each symptom, lab, or diagnoses there are encyclopedic, point-form descriptions. Also, it is fast. Using the search bar will quickly yield the item you seek. If you want more detailed information, there are integrated web searches, accessed easily with the “info” button which appears with each entry.

Where it really shines, I think, if you are interested in one ‘hallmark’ symptom. There aren’t a lot of references that correlate symptoms to disease so this can be very handy for helping recall that condition that goes with Adie’s pupil or Fetor Hepaticus!

As I found it difficult to get success with my symptom correlations (see below), I think the program is best used in what I might call ‘reverse.’ It’s easiest to view the disorders or lab tests first, read more about their details, and then correlate backwards with the associate symptoms. The treatment section is particularly good in that, unlike a classic drug guide, it provides a more exhaustive list of indications including off-label uses.

Whether intended or not, the App isn’t without humour. Select Cannibalism, Annoys People (Deliberately), and Condom Nonuse (Failure) from the symptoms and try to correlate them. The result? Kuru!

What I didn’t like:

Their caveat is true – this really cannot replace a clinician, and of course it isn’t expected to. There may be 10, 000 entries, but some basic things like Dehydration or Hypovolemia are absent (instead there is “mucosal dryness” – not intuitive!). Less common ‘signs’ (like splinter hemorrhages, Janeway lesions, Osler’s nodes, Sister-Mary Joseph’s nodule, etc.) are lacking also.

The lines between symptom/labs/diagnosis are quite blurry. You have to know where to look; there are lots of things that can be both signs/symptoms and diagnoses unto themselves such as hemorrhoids. For these, you just have to look through the different sections until you find them. Obviously a lot of work has gone into making the associations thorough but unless you are in the mind of the designer, you will struggle to chose correlations which yield the expected results.

For example, I often see elderly patients with falls, confusion, and dehydration (“mucosal dryness” in the terms of this App). When I correlate these features, I get a differential which is extensive but still misses the mark. Common things that present this way such as urinary tract infections (UTIs) and hypercalcemia do not appear. Instead “Wallenberg Syndrom” and “vestibular neuronitis” are listed as most likely. Expand the differential and things like “Plague,” “Insulinoma,” and “Shy-Drager Syndrome” appear. Common things are conspicuously absent. Though this isn’t what I expected, the bizarre results are good in that they will challenge you to consider unusual diagnoses and keep a wide view of the differential.

Some entries are obviously not comprehensive. It wasn’t 2 seconds before I had stumbled across entries in the treatment section that had no information about them and had very sparse correlations (despite my knowledge otherwise).

Conclusion:

This program probably works a dream in the hands of its creators, but in mine, it’s a bit cumbersome. I do applaud the effort at what I think is the beginning of a great clinical decision making tool, but it’s not quite ‘fleshed out’ enough yet. I can’t help but think of neural networks when looking at this App; in this case, the front end is clean and easy, and the underlying framework is established, but more data must be entered and associations formed before itcan comprehensively perform the task.

Maybe I’m using it incorrectly, or I’ve missed the mark, but I’m what I think is an average user – someone with a bit of programming experience, who regularly uses medical Apps, and who knows about clinical presentations and diagnostics. If it needs a tutorial to walk you through its use, maybe it wasn’t meant for the user-friendly iPhone. I don’t think the claim on the website – that “the operation is intuitive” is fair.

Set your expectations carefully; this isn’t a wizard to replace your clinical reasoning. However, it may help expand your differentials and serve as a reference for a wide range of clinical considerations. There’s lots of room for improvement with future iterations.

Software: STATworkUP version 1.04
Manufacturer: IatroCom (statworkup.com)
Cost: 24.99$ USD Availability: iTunes Store
Basic Connectivity: no subscription or Internet required once installed
Best for: Clinicians who want to broaden their differentials, residents and medical students who need a quick reference for obscure tests

Jessica Otte is a guest writer on iMedicalApps.com, and blogs at Dr. Ottematic

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Radiation Passport helps physicians and patients determine cancer risk and cumulative radiation exposure in diagnostic imaging [App Review]

Felasfa Wodajo, MD — Wed, 02 Jun 2010 19:00:25 +0000

Radiation Passport aims to fulfill an important need: to quantify the cancer risk for the various diagnostic imaging studies and to add up the cumulative exposure and cancer risk for one patient. The app makers explicitly invite lay persons to track their own cumulative dose (thus the monicker “passport”) but the design and vocabulary appear to be targeted more toward physicians.

While the diagnostic benefits of modern imaging techniques are easily appreciated, the risk of exposure to ionizing radiation is less well understood. This question has become more acute as recently published studies attempting to quantify cancer risk from diagnostic radiation were widely picked up by media outlets. I can attest that, in recent months, many of my patients have brought up this coverage when I ordered scans. At the same time, I have also decreased orders for CT scans and even x-rays in my pediatric patients.

Radiation Passport (iTunes link) was designed and built by a team of two brothers, one of whom is a radiologist – and is priced at $3.99. The application includes a well written “background” section which deals early-on with the vexing dilemma of calculating cancer risk – that much of of the data on cancer risk is extrapolated from atomic bomb data – by simply stating it is the best information available. Much of the background section of the app is drawn from an accompanying article in the Journal of American College of Radiology, in which the brothers describe the application’s methodology.

What is not controversial is that usage of diagnostic imaging has increased dramatically over the last two decades. For example, in the background section of the app, it quotes an article stating that the number of CT scans performed has doubled every two years since the mid 1980s. Another quoted article (Brenner and Hall, 2007) apparently claims that up to 1.5-2% of ALL cancers in the US may become attributable to radiation from CT scans alone, if current usage rates continue. These numbers make it clear that mitigating this risk is an increasingly important goal for patients and physicians alike.

The application has two main functions. One is a straightforward “calculator” of radiation exposure. Studies are sorted into categories such as “cardiology”, “dental”, “GI”, “CT”, etc. The other is a personal repository of cumulative radiation exposure. The application takes into account the age of the patient and the age at the time of radiation exposure. This is important since radiation induced cancers usually take many years to develop and therefore, exposure at young age is considered higher risk than later in life. The app automatically enters the average amount of radiation exposure for each type of study (in milli-Sieverts), although this default can be overridden.

Once the studies have been entered, the app displays a pie chart of the different modalities’ contribution to cumulative lifetime radiation exposure and cancer risk. It is interesting to see that background earth radiation is actually a large proportion to the cumulative dose, that is until one gets a few CT scans under the belt !

What I liked about this app:

it addresses an important need for physicians and patients
it is well referenced and thoughtfully designed
provides rich functionality, both in the range of parameters that can be entered and the types of studies and also in ways the resulting risk can be displayed

What I thought could be improved

the application navigation is somewhat confusing, in particular the cumulative dose information and the individual study information are in the same view while the dose & risk information are separated across two application tabs

it would seem more logical to separate the cumulative dose and individual study information apart into two tabs while keeping dose and risk information for studies vs. patients together

if lay person use is to be encouraged (which I agree is very useful), extensive purging is needed of as much medical jargon as possible from the app, especially in study selection controls

it would also be helpful to have a few prompts on first launch to guide the user, rather than just showing a blank list

the slider switch for list vs. graph display is too small and often results in inadvertent pressing of the nearby “background” tab

it would be helpful to have a “duplicate” feature for studies entered into personal repository since many patients are on a regular surveillance schedule and repeatedly undergo a set of studies over many years (it is nice that adding a new study at least duplicates the last one entered)

chest-abdomen-pelvis CT is missing as an option

the ability to send emails and view web pages could easily be incorporated into the app instead of requiring quitting the application

finally, the name “Radiation Passport” is a slightly confusing since a passport is primarily used for entry across borders, while this app is more of a log or journal

Conclusion

Radiation Passport is a very well thought-out application that addresses an important need. It is well documented and comes at a time of increasing attention to the cancer risk of diagnostic imaging by physicians and patients. In order to achieve its potential the application interface should be streamlined and the confusing use of medical jargon mitigated to allow for better usage by lay persons.

Update
Tidal Pool Software (www.tidalpool.ca), the makers of Radiation Passport, has announced a partnership with Clario Imaging to integrate their dose and risk cumulative logging functions directly into Clario zVision radiology and picture archiving information system (RIS/PACS). This will be helpful for physicians to inform them, at the point of order entry, the cumulative dose and risk for their patients.

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Clinical Pharmacology Mobile – A mobile web app compatible on all smart phones [Review]

Amit Patel, MD — Mon, 31 May 2010 08:42:33 +0000

Here we review Clinical Pharmacology Mobile (CPM) from Gold Standard/Elsevier, a program that promises to deliver quality drug and interaction information in the palm of your hand. As a web-based program, CPM supports most advanced devices that use standard browsers (iPhone/iPad/iTouch, Blackberry, etc.) and runs on the Safari/Android/ Symbian/ Windows Mobile/RIM operating systems.

Gold Standard/Elsevier represents a trusted name well-versed in the development of “medical management solutions.” Their suite of products also includes: Alchemy, Clinical Measures, Clinical Pharmacology, FormChecker, MedAlternatives, MedChecker, ProspectoRX, and ToxED. However, CPM appears to be their first foray into mobile applications.

The Clinical Pharmacology Mobile Core (the base product) facilitates: searching (by drug name/indication/contraindication/adverse reactions), browsing (by monograph/classification), multi-drug interaction reports, MedCounselor information (consumer medication info, in English or Spanish), and almost 200 clinical calculators.

As for the program, log-in requires navigation to cpmobile.mobi (shown below):

Once logged in, the home screen (shown below) features easy access to the search, drug interaction, drug IDentifier, MedCounselor, clinical calculator, IV compatibility, and OnFormulary functions:

The search function (shown below) allows for the search of any drug by drug name, adverse reaction, contraindication/precautions, indication, or NDC:

Here, we search for the anti-cholesterol statin medication Crestor (rosuvastatin). The drug monograph (shown below) includes comprehensive information on the description/classification, US drug names, indications and dosages, supply, administration, adverse reactions, contraindications/precautions, drug interactions, and more:

Alternatively, a browse function is available from the home screen, as is a directory of medications by classification (shown below):

CPM also offers a Drug Interaction Report function. This function allows for the choice of “Professional” (more comprehensive and technical) or “Consumer” reports, and sorts the interactions on levels (severe-major-moderate-mild).

Here, we search for the “Professional” report on the interactions between warfarin, phenytoin, and valproic acid, three highly interactive medications:

CPM also features an expansive set of almost 200 clinical calculators (shown below):

Here, we explore the acetaminophen toxicity calculator (shown below):

Moreover, CPM has an interesting “MedCounselor” function to impart drug information to patients (in the form of FAQ’s), in either English or Spanish (shown below):

CPM also features several Add-On Modules (pricing explained below) to “enhance your drug information knowledge”:

1. Drug IDentifier: Allows for identifying tablets and capsules by imprint/marking/color/shape (shown below). Here we input a marking, color, and shape to arrive at our answer (includes images):

2. IV Compatibility (Trissel’s 2 Database): Features the multi-drug IV compatibility report function (shown below). Here we input a set of intravenous antimicrobial agents, and see various incompatibilities:

3. OnFormulary: Facilitates searching of 3rd party prescription plans (including Medicare Part D and State Medicaid plans) to determine drug coverage (shown below). This function can show us what tier a given medication is for a specific prescription plan:

4. Global Drug Name Database (GDND): Allows searching for international brand names and links user to US drug monograph information.

Summary:

Clinical Pharmacology Mobile offers a comprehensive drug and interaction information program for mobile devices via a smooth user interface that is easily navigated. Its drug monographs are complete and thorough, its drug interaction reports are well-organized, and it features several interesting functions, including the MedCounselor (great way to give patients information on their medications), the OnFormulary (a useful tool to ascertain medication tiers on specific prescription plans), and the Drug IDentifier (with the potential to find out which medications a patient might be taking). However, CPM’s large price tag gives us pause, especially in light of multiple apps (such as the recently reviewed and free MedScape app) that offer similar functionality at a cheaper price.

Pricing: For a yearly subscription for individuals, the CPM core (explained above) costs $199. For the Add-On Modules (also explained above), the Drug IDentifier/NDC search costs $99, the IV Compatibility $99, the OnFormulary $119, and the Global Drug Name Database (GDND) $39.

Likes:

-Slick and intuitive user interface
-Comprehensive drug monographs and interaction reports
-A bevy of interesting functions, including the OnFormulary, MedCounselor, Clinical Calculators, and Drug IDentifier

Dislikes/Future Updates I’d Love to See:

-The pricing (especially with the Add-On Modules) can be prohibitive for many users
-Because CPM is web browser-based, it is not always as fast to access and use as other apps

Conclusion:

Although Clinical Pharmacology Mobile represents a well-constructed and potentially useful tool for drug and interaction information, it does not offer a significant advantage over other drug information products, such as the MedScape app. Moreover, given its hefty price tag, we find it hard to justify shelling out the cash for CPM when other similarly serviceable and cheaper alternatives exist.

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The number one downloaded medical app for the iPhone – Medscape [App Review]

Amit Patel, MD — Mon, 17 May 2010 19:46:27 +0000

Here we review the Medscape iPhone medical app, the number one downloaded medical app since August 2009 – when they claimed the throne from Epocrates. The Medscape app is developed by WebMD, obviously a well-regarded and trustworthy source for medical news and content.

We first reviewed the Medscape app when it launched in July 2009, but here we offer a more extensive review that covers the newer Medscape 2.1 version – the 2.0 update brought huge updates that made this application number one in our top 10 medical apps list.

As for the app itself, the home screen features a search function, medical news, sections for Drugs, Diseases & Conditions, Clinical Procedures, a drug Interaction Checker, and a bottom bar with more functions.

The news that appears here is in the specialty one used when initially logging in with an account (here for Internal Medicine, but the user can easily change this, as discussed later in this review).

Moreover, the app allows the user to configure this bottom bar on the home screen with one’s more used functions (and stack the rest under the “More” button):

Back at the home screen, the search function facilitates a search of all sections – drugs, diseases, procedures (below). The tabs near the top can allow for a focused search on just one of these entities, if desired.

The diseases, conditions, and procedures featured in this app number over 3,200, and are enhanced with images (over 2,500) and videos (over 150). In this example, we bring up the “Paracentesis” procedure, which features a bevy of sections as shown below. Unfortunately, navigation between sections requires returning to the disease topic main page.

Here, the “Positioning” section features one of the high-quality aforementioned images (shown below).

Likewise, the user can search for medications from this same main search function, or conduct a focused search on medications. Medscape’s trademark drug reference and interaction checker includes over 7,000 brand, generic, over-the-counter, herbal, and supplement medications. To our knowledge, it is still the fastest and most comprehensive method of checking medication dosages, pricing, and interactions. Also, it features the ability to search by drug or by drug class.

Moreover, by clicking on the Drugs section from the home screen, users can access an organ system (like cardiovascular) and then select a drug class (like ACE-inhibitors) to then choose a medication, such as captopril, shown below.

For a given medication like captopril (shown below), the app displays other names, drug class, sections for dosing, interactions, adverse effects, contraindications, pregnancy/lactation information, brand and cost information, and pharmacology, and an option to add the medication to the interaction checker.

For example, here is the section on Adult Dosing for captopril. Notice the dosages by dosage form and drug indication.

As for Medscape’s calling card –the Drug Interaction Checker—users can input up to 30 entries at once to check interactions (shown below).

In this example, we add warfarin, valproic acid, and phenytoin (three medications notorious for their interactions with other drugs), and click “View Interactions:”

Not surprisingly, we find 7 interactions between these medications, organized in sections from “significant + monitor closely” to “mild.”

Other functions of the Medscape app include those situated along the bottom bar, including news, CME, and a directory. The Medical News and CME functions (shown below) present breaking news or CME in your chosen specialty (here, Internal Medicine), but are easily changed to other fields via the “Change” button in the top right corner of the screens.

The Directory function (shown below) includes over 400,000 physicians, 57,000 pharmacies, and 6,000 hospitals across the US. Moreover, it features the ability to e-mail contact and location information to a colleague/patient.

In summary, the Medscape app from WebMD represents a tool with powerful clinical potential for almost any healthcare professional. Starting with its rapid and unmatched drug reference and interaction checker (which are infinitely useful in almost all clinical settings), and extending through its newer and less refined Diseases & Conditions, Clinical Procedures, Medical News and CME, and Directory references and functions, the Medscape app comes in handy virtually every day for me when I am on service. Even if only for its drug reference and interaction checker, it represents a formidable resource for daily use in patient care.

Pricing: The Medscape App is free!

Likes:

Multimedia enhancement (images, videos) of many of the diseases/conditions/clinical procedures
Pricing: such an extensive medical app for free? Wow!
THE quickest and most comprehensive way to check medication dosages/pricing/interactions

Dislikes/Future Updates I’d Love to See:

App requires registration with Medscape with various information necessary (though it’s just a one-time registration on initially accessing the app)
All search content resets when user exits the app
When browsing information on diseases or drugs, user has to go back to the original topic or drug screen to navigate to a different section—too many clicks! Consider displaying entire exploration of disease/drug on one screen
Though 3,200 strong, the diseases/conditions section does not appear to be entirely comprehensive—would appreciate a continuing effort to build it through subsequent versions of the app

Conclusion:

Simply put, there’s no cleaner or faster way to look up medications and drug interactions than the Medscape app from WebMD. Add on the fact that the app is FREE, and that WebMD has made admirable efforts to include a diseases/conditions reference, CME/medical news sections, and a directory, and this app is a MUST-HAVE for clinical training or practice.

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Download Now on iTunes for Free »

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