Our goal here is simple – to help connect physicians, nurses, PA’s, NP’s, EMT’s, and students to the apps that will help make them better at caring for patients. Whether that’s by learning anatomy better, having tools to share with your patients, or an accessible refresher on how to do procedures, there’s a lot out there that could us and you take better care of physicians. So please let us know (in the comments section here) what apps you would like to see reviewed. We’d especially appreciate links to the app’s iTunes page. We want to be responsive to what our readers want, so give us a hand by pointing us to the apps you’d like to know more about. In the meantime, we’ll keep looking for apps that we want to make sure our peers to know about.

Related Posts:

1. Three Free Useful iPhone Medical Apps [Recently Released]
2. Epocrates Rx for Android gets reviewed – Our first Android medical app review
3. Top 10 Free iPhone Medical Apps for Health care Professionals

By Dr. Jessica Otte

In early January, Elsevier and Modality released a new addition to their suite of popular iPhone medical apps. It is a true multimedia offering, combining text and video to explain the pre-procedure considerations, the technique and positioning to perform the procedure, and the complications and other advertisements for follow-up care. Overall, 27 different procedures are covered; these range from the basic (catheterization and wart treatment) to the more involved (lumbar puncture).

Being a resident physician, I am competent with some of these techniques to the extent that I can perform them by feel. Some, like circumcision, I’ve never seen, let alone performed. Fortunately, Procedures Consult provides a foundation for each. As I’ve mentioned in other reviews of procedure-teaching apps, there is no substitute for hands on experience under the guidance of an expert. However, applications like these may allow you to skip the ‘see one’ stage of the common ‘see one,’ ‘do one,’ ‘teach one’ approach to developing a skill.

Navigation is simple. A main menu allows you to view a list of all procedures or procedures by type. You can also search or use bookmarks for quicker access.

Once looking at a procedure’s entry, the pre-procdure text will walk you through indications, contraindications, equipment, and anatomy. Though some sections are written very thoroughly, the weakest consistently is the anatomy. Photos or graphics would really enhance a user’s understanding. For example, in female catheterization, it is not uncommon that a person new to the procedure will catheterize the vagina instead of the urethra; a simple illustration of the anatomy is a critical component to correctly performing this skill, and it is not clearly illustrated in the video.

The procedure section contains step-by-step instructions and each procedure may have numerous videos attached to it, which illustrate the steps. The videos are clear, well-paced, and generously narrated. However, the experience of watching them can be somewhat fragmented; the videos require you to rotate your phone to the horizontal and each section of the procedure is a separate video, which results in a 5 second pause. You can skip the pause by okay-ing a pop up. On the other hand, separation of the videos is a handy feature when only a certain section needs to be reviewed.

The inclusion of so many videos does take up quite a hefty amount of space on your iPhone, and in a magical world, a user would be able to select which procedures need to be on their phone. For me, some procedures – like catheterization – are so basic that I would never feel the need to refer to this software, while others are more difficult to the point of having separate software dedicated to their explanation.

Conclusion:

Overall, the application provides a fairly comprehensive list of procedures that might be undertaken in a GP’s office. I really liked that a variety of treatment options were presented for a few conditions, such as warts. Cryotherapy or cautery/curettage videos demonstrate technique while less invasive solutions are offered for patients who may not be amenable to the procedural approach. Despite a good general catalogue, a few things are missing; Inserting an IUD, dis-impacting cerumen, and performing a pap test are more likely in the Canadian GP’s realm than would be a shoulder reduction, however these more common procedures are not part of the software.

Taking a step back, this technology is quite exciting. It would have been beyond any one’s dreams 10 years ago, but these days, few young and technophillic doctors can live without this kind of resource in the palm of their hand. While useful and well-organized, there is still room for improvement with Procedures Consult: Family Medicine – General. As is though, this should find its way into the toolbox of brand new medical students and GPs who are a rusty on a few of the finer points of procedural skills.

Basic Connectivity:

No subscription or Internet required

Best for:

Family practice residents who missed learning a few basic techniques, rural GPs who do ‘the occasional’ of anything, and medical students who’ve never done a procedure before.

View Customer Reviews on iTunes »

Download Now on iTunes for $39.99 »

Visit the App Website »

Dr. Otte is a Family Practice Resident on Vancouver Island. She completed her M.D. in 2009 at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada. She authors a popular blog – Dr. Ottermatic – which can be found at http://drottematic.wordpress.com/. Dr. Otte is also the newest guest contributor to iMedicalApps and we are thrilled to have her aboard!

Related Posts:

1. Modality Brings Procedures Consult App to the iPhone, We’re Blown Away [App Review]
2. Procedures Consult – Musculoskeletal App Superbly Demonstrates Common Bedside Orthopedic Techniques [App Review]
3. Procedures – Hospital Collection App: 15 Procedures Taught With Extensive Multimedia [App Review and Comparison]

Learning a new skill can be an intimidating task for budding health care professionals – especially when it comes to learning medical procedures.  There is a difference, any doctor will tell you, between reading about a procedure and actually doing it.  Educators are beginning to take full advantage of new technology – like the iPhone/iPod – to help bridge the gap between comprehending and performing medical procedures.

Procedures – Hospital Collection is a new app that uses bulleted text, clinical images, and audio/video instruction to familiarize the learner with the preparation, relevant anatomy, and individual steps of common procedures in the hospital setting.

This app is not the first we have reviewed that offers instruction on performing routine hospital-based procedures. In many ways, Procedures – Hospital Collection is like the more expensive Procedures Consult – Internal Medicine App in its content.

So… how does it stack up to Procedures consult?  In this post we’ll do a full review of Procedures – Hospital collection, and use the Procedure Consult series as comparison

For $19.99 MeisterMed’s Procedures: Hospital Collection uses hi-resolution video clips that look in many ways like the Procedures Consult family of apps or the New England Journal of Medicine Clinical Medicine videos that may be familiar to many medical students, residents and physicians.

As the name implies, the content is most applicable to those users in the inpatient hospital setting.  Modules included are:

1. Arterial Line Placement
2. BiPap & CPAP*
3. Bone Marrow Aspiration and Biopsy*
4. Femoral Line Placement
5. Glidescope Intubation*
6. Internal Jugular Line Placement
7. Internal Jugular Line Placement with Ultrasound Guidance*
8. Laryngeal Mask Airway*
9. Lumbar Puncture
10. Orotracheal Intubation*
11. Paracentesis
12. Pulmonary Artery Catheter Placement
13. Subclavian Line Placement
14. Thoracentesis
15. Tube Thoracostomy (Chest Tube) – (Procedures Consult has Needle Thoracostomy)

* Not one of the 30 procedures included in Procedures Consult – Internal Medicine

Navigating the App

The user can search, return to previously bookmarked pages, or simply browse one procedure at a time.  Each procedure page has three menu items: Procedure Details, Images, and Watch the Video.

Procedure Details:

Under the Procedure Details menu, the user will find indications, contraindications, complications, equipment, step-by-step instructions, lab analysis (if applicable), frequently asked questions, coding, and references.  This format differs from the “Pre-procedure, Procedure, Post-procedure” layout of Procedure Consult.  Navigation through the menus is not as fluid or intuitive as we would have hoped – transitions between pages have a lag of a second or two, and it is often difficult to distinguish linked-text from plain text – but the depth and quality of information in the Procedures Details menu is definitely on-par with competing apps.

Images:

Hi-res clinical images and corresponding captions are found under the Images menu.  Clinical images from the bedside are very large, generally high in quality, multi-touch capable, and convey the key steps of the procedure.

Important anatomy concepts are shown in figures (e.g. Mallampati Classification, landmarks for LP), but are lower in quality and fewer in number than similar figures in competing apps.  We would have liked to see more high-quality anatomy figures in color.

The Images menu lacks integration with corresponding items in the Procedure Details menu, and is clunky to use.  The user cannot view the image and its caption at the same time, which makes for the tedious process of opening the image, returning to the Image menu, opening the caption, returning to the Image menu, then moving on to the next image.

If we were designing this app, we would prefer to see the Images menu scrapped, or at least better integrated into the Procedures Details menu.

Video:

Ok, here’s the bread and butter of any procedures app or online teaching tool – the video.

Most videos are 3 to 5 minutes long, from preparation stage to completion.  Video footage for each of the procedures is generally well done.  Some procedures are staged in lighting that is less than ideal, but in general the video is clear and effective in showing key steps of the procedure, with “down-time” edited out.  Close-ups of appropriate steps are included.  The narrator guides the user through each step, sprinkling in the tips and tricks of an experienced clinician. Audio clarity is good.

Users may find the narrator’s unscripted approach distracting.  We did.  A well written script for each video — and some editing-out of messy sentences — would have undoubtedly cut down on “um, ah um” and probably ensured that more relevant narrative points be included.

Key point: a major strength of procedural videos is missing from this app. Videos on this app lack intentional pauses to emphasize the clinical pearls, anatomical relationships, safety reminders, and key techniques that are most important for the learner to remember.  Other effective procedure video apps and online videos use on-screen text or overlaid anatomical figures to make key teaching points. To maximize the learning experience to the user, we would have liked to see this integration of text-based key learning points within the video.

Likes:

• All the information is there… you just need to know how to get it.
• References included, and generally up-to-date.
• CPT Coding information included (missing from Procedures Consult)
• Entire content downloaded to the device (no Internet connection needed)
• Fully searchable and bookmarkable.
• HUGE clinical images with multi-touch zoom.

Dislikes:

• Key information in the text is not highlighted (bolded or different color)
• Text size not adjustable
• Clunky process of clicking back-and-forth between images and captions
• Narrator “ums,” run-on sentences, and abrupt stops.
• Navigation of the user interface is slowed
• Lacks integration of video, images, text, and audio into one coherent learning experience
• Only 15 procedures (compared to 25 on Procedures Consult – Internal Medicine)

Notably missing Procedures:

• Incision and Drainage of Cutaneous Abscess
• Pelvic Exam/Pap Smear
• Phlebotomy

Conclusion:

At $19.99 Procedures – Hospital Collection is a good buy for residents and students who are somewhat familiar with each of the procedures, but who need a quick brush-up on the needed equipment or step-by-step process just before seeing a patient.

In comparison to the Procedure Consults – Internal Medicine app, users with no procedural experience – like many medical students – may miss out on many helpful “clinical pearls” and find the in-video learning experience to be lacking with Procedures – Hospital Collection.

But for half the price, this app provides more than sufficient information to learn the techniques and concepts behind the 15 included procedures, if only the user is willing to put up with a few more menu-clicks and less stream-lined audio and video quality.

This app succeeds in providing a comprehensive procedure learning tool, but fails to match the intuitive layout and high quality text-audio-video experience of the higher priced Procedure Consult App Series. And although Procedures Consult – Internal Medicine is twice the price, it also has almost twice the number of procedures.

Editor’s Addendum and comments

Our apologies, we needed to do a better job of distinguishing the procedures available in Procedures Consult – Internal medicine, and those in Procedures – Hospital Collection. We have updated the 15 modules we first listed for Procedures – Hospital Collection, labeling the procedures not included in Procedures Consult – Internal Medicine.

Also, the following procedures are available in Procedures Consult – Internal medicine, and are not available in Procedures – Hospital Collection: Atrial Blood Gas Sampling (In addition to Radial, Brachial and Femoral Approach included), Basic Airway Management, Cardioversion, Central Venous Catheterization: Femoral Approach, Cerumen Removal, Defibrillation, Epistaxis Management, I&D of Cutaneous Abscesses, Intravenous Cannulation, Local Anesthesia, Nasogastric Intubation, Pap Testing, Phlebotomy, Stapling Devices, Tick Removal, Transcutaneous Pacing, Transvenous Pacing.

I’d like to further stress the depth of the Procedures Consult – Internal Medicine app’s videos, text, and pictures. Although Procedures – Hospital Collection does show how to put in an a-line, Procedures Consult shows alternative approaches, with alternative in depth videos as well. The depth and breath of the video, text, and pictures in Procedures Consult – Internal Medicine are better than the Procedures – Hospital Collection app, as is the navigation and overall user interface.

But when making a decision on which app to purchase, look at the procedures offered by Procedures – Hospital edition that are not offered by Procedures Consult – Internal Medicine. If those extra procedures are key for you, and the extra procedures offered by the Procedures Consult app are not, than Procedures – Hospital edition would be a very good choice.

View Customer Reviews on iTunes »

Download Now on iTunes for $19.99 »

Visit the App Website »

Brett Einerson is one of our newest guest writers.  He is a fourth year MD/MPH student at Wake Forest University School of Medicine and the University of North Carolina Gillings School of Global Public Health.  He is a native of Minnesota and a graduate of Bethel University in St. Paul.

In the future he will be entering residency in Obstetrics and Gynecology. He is interested in evidence-based practice, comparative effectiveness research, physician decision-support systems, and practice guideline development.

Related Posts:

1. Procedures – Subclavian Line App Helps Teach You Key Procedure [App Review]
2. Modality Brings Procedures Consult App to the iPhone, We’re Blown Away [App Review]
3. Procedures Consult – Musculoskeletal App Superbly Demonstrates Common Bedside Orthopedic Techniques [App Review]

If you’re a physician, medical student, or in any other health care related field, trying to find the best free medical apps for the iPhone is a hassle.  Apps such as “Dream Meanings”, “Relax Ocean waves”, and “Stool Scanner Lite” dominate the Top Free Medical Apps list in the App Store.  Our top 10 iPhone medical apps list contains no such app, and this isn’t a re-hash of the top downloaded free medical apps either.  Rather, this list contains the top 10 free iPhone medical apps health care professionals and students can actually use on a day to day basis.

1) Medscape

We mentioned this app when it was released in the summer of 2009.  At the time I doubt many thought it would ever eclipse Epocrates in the top free medical apps section of the App Store, but with significant recent updates it’s accomplished this feat.

This app always had a great drug reference section, with over 6,000 generic, brand, and OTC drugs, along with a drug interaction checker.  But with recent updates, Medscape now has a Diseases and Conditions section, along with a Clinical Procedures section.  These added sections aren’t just fluff, they actually contain concise and useful information, with videos and pictures to boot.  We plan on doing a full review in the near future.

Links: iMedicalApps Review, Website, iTunes
Cost: Free

2) Epocrates

The free version of Medscape might be ranked higher on our list, and in the App Store, but I guarantee almost every medical professional still has at least the free version of Epocrates.  My peers and I often joke about how Epocrates is the “most trusted name in Medicine” – because it’s the one app med schools and medical institutions aren’t afraid of pushing.  We recently did a full review of Epocrates.

The free version, called Epocrates Rx, includes: Drug interactions, Pill Identifier, Drug Info, and Medical Calculator. Surprisingly, Medscape doesn’t have a medical calculator, you would think this added functionality would be easy to do.  In our review of Epocrates, we go over all the different versions in details, along with pricing – we were definitely impressed.

Links: iMedicalApps Review, Website, iTunes
Cost: Free

3) iRadiology

This app is a must download if you’re a resident or a medical student.  Even if you’re not in that category, you might want to download this app just for fun. iRadiology has a catalog of over 500 radiology cases designed to help medical students and residents improve their plain film, CT, and MRI reading skills.  We did a full review of this app recently.

The cases are derived from Dr. Gillian Lieberman, who is currently the Director of Harvard Medical Student training and Associate Director of the Residency Program at Beth Israel Medical Center.  We interviewed her when iRadiology was released – and she provided some great insight into the inspiration for the app.

Links: iMedicalApps Review, Website, iTunes
Cost: Free

4) MedPage Today Mobile

What’s not to like about MedPage Today?  The website is a fantastic resource for medical professionals, and a lot of the content is in partnership with the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine – further securing its academic credentials.  Their motto is, “Putting Breaking Medical News Into Practice”, and this app helps you with this cause via mobile access.

In addition, you can get audio and video through this app, allowing you to get CME credits while using MedPage Today mobile. With the most recent update, MedPage Today mobile now allows you to do a full text search of all articles published on their website since 1/1/07, definitely a welcome addition.

Links: iMedicalApps Review, Website, iTunes
Cost: Free

5) Medical Radio

This is a product of ReachMD, probably most famous for its XM Satellite Radio broadcast feeds  (XM 160) of medical information – and these feeds are available live through this app.  MedicalRadio allows you to keep up to date with changing clinical guidelines, and I’ve found the medical talks to be informative and useful.

We haven’t done a full review of this app, but the original iteration of this app, ReachMD CME, made it into our old top medical apps list.

Links: iMedicalApps Review (old version of app), Website, iTunes
Cost: Free

No related posts.

Today Kaplan Publishing and ScrollMotion announced they will be bringing an extensive suite of USMLE and MCAT apps to the iPhone, with hints of a broader use for the iPad.  Currently Kaplan has some USMLE apps already in the App Store, such as the USMLE Disease Deck, an app we weren’t too impressed with.

However, these apps seem poised to bring a different user experience to medical and premed students because of their new partnership.  This partnership with ScrollMotion, the maker of the popular Iceberg e-book reader, seems like a smart idea – and some of the following mentioned features leave room for excitement.

Features built into the new textbook apps include:

*Highlight Text: Students can mark text to organize their study with six different color tags.

*Record Audio Notes or Take Printed Notes: Using the device’s built-in audio recorder, students can take audio notes in addition to typing notes within the app.

*Search Text: Filtered by subject, topic, or content type – including key concepts, margin notes, and practice questions – the application’s search function has made the index a thing of the past.

*Interactive Quizzes: Students can track quiz scores by right and wrong answers so they can make comparisons each time they take a quiz to see where they are improving and learn the correct answers.

*Video: The MCAT application contains fourteen 5-7 minute videos to complement the text.

The following are the Titles for the soon to be released apps.  The titles can be purchased separately for $29.99 each, or in packages.  The USMLE package will cost $219.99 and the MCAT package will cost $129.99.  No word yet if they will give a discount to premed and med students who are enrolled in MCAT or USMLE step 1 classes.

Titles:

Kaplan MCAT Biology Review Notes, MCAT General Chemistry Review Notes, MCAT Organic Chemistry Review Notes, MCAT Physics Review Notes, MCAT Review Notes Bundle, MCAT Verbal Reasoning and Writing Review Notes, USMLE Step 1 Anatomy Lecture Notes, USMLE Step 1 Behavioral Sciences Lecture Notes, USMLE Step 1 Biochemistry and Medical Genetics Lecture Notes, USMLE Step 1 Immunology and Microbiology Lecture Notes, USMLE Step 1 Lecture Notes Bundle, USMLE Step 1 Pathology Lecture Notes, USMLE Step 1 Pharmacology Lecture Notes, USMLE Step 1 Physiology Lecture Notes, USMLE Step 1 Qbook.

The USMLE Step 1 Qbook is the most exciting e-book app mentioned, and could end up being a “must have” for med students on their iPhone or iPad.  But while these apps will be extremely beneficial to Premed students, I think its fair to say med students are still waiting on a legitimate Kaplan or USMLE World Q-bank for Step 1 studying.  Nonetheless, these apps will bring a level of functionality not seem before in study apps, and I can’t wait to see them on the iPad.

Related Posts:

1. Kaplan’s Free iPhone App Contains a 25% off Coupon Code for their USMLE Step 1 Qbank
2. App Giveaway – USMLE Q-bank and USMLE Flashcards App
3. USMLE Buzz Flash Cards App Aims to Help You With USMLE Step 1 Studying [App Review]

It was only a matter of time before partnerships between medical textbook publishers and the iPad development community emerged. One key partnership the Wall Street Journal just announced is between ScrollMotion (app developer) and McGraw-Hill’s Education division, with the purpose of developing e-books for the iPad.  And why does this matter? Because if you’re a medical professional, you most certainly have read or own a medical text from McGraw-Hill.

McGraw-Hill is the publisher of Harrison’s Internal Medicine, Schwartz’s Principles of Surgery, the Case-File series and many more medical texts.  They acquired Apple and Lange Inc in 2007, further expanding their vast medical library.  Many of us know of McGraw-Hill via Access Medicine, the online portal to their large collection of medical texts that is available in almost every academic institution in the country.

Many pundits feel the iPad’s use of an LED screen verse E-ink (think Kindle) will dissuade readers from purchasing the iPad for reading purposes.  The principle argument is the LED screen will cause more eye strain after prolonged use, but the medical community should embrace e-books on the iPad because we read textbooks in a different way than traditional readers.

Medical books are not often read cover to cover, instead key chapters are often referenced when needed.  Although the majority of medical professionals, myself included, will attest to reading Harrison’s frequently, it’s doubtful that any of us have read the massive text with the purpose of reading it front to back.  Also, could you imagine seeing key anatomic figures, pathologic pictures, and diagrams in E-ink text?  The dull black and gray colors would look awful.  On the iPad’s 9.7 inch 1024 x 768 pixel display, these full-color diagrams and figures would be far more aesthetically pleasing.  Viewing detailed anatomic figures would be especially useful, highlighted in one of our recent medical app reviews.

It should be noted that a flagship McGraw-Hill book, Harrison’s Manual of Medicine, is already in the App Store via other third party developers.  But we haven’t been impressed with the conversion of this medical text to mobile form, mainly because of the limited size.  Pictures and diagrams cannot be fully appreciated on the iPhone’s 3.5 inch screen.

Since the iPad’s iBook store will be competing directly with the Kindle, we can assume the pricing of these books will be similar.  Surprisingly, the Kindle does not have many of the McGraw-Hill flagship textbooks I mentioned above.  The limiting display factors that E-ink causes could be a reason these texts are not available.  However, McGraw-Hill does have many medical study guides in e-book form, such as the Case-Files series.  The Case-File e-books for the Kindle are priced at almost 40% discounts from the original text.  Although such a high discount is not likely, many of the medical reference texts available for the Kindle are discounted by approximately 20%.

This type of savings, along with the ability to search and review massive text books on a great display, should have the medical community excited about the prospects of e-books on the iPad.  Now if the developers can somehow add the ability to highlight and annotate using the rumored handwriting keyboard….but that might be too much to ask.

Related Posts:

1. Social Textbooks and the iPad – How the Medical Community Could Benefit from Dynamic E-books
2. iPad App Store needs to mature before medical community can adopt the iPad for healthcare use
3. Apple iPad: Promising Features For Healthcare Use and Medical Education

The iPad has created a great deal of buzz in the tech community. The medical and healthcare community at large are set to benefit from some of its key features, mentioned in our prior posting.  One of these key features, the beautiful 1024 by 768 pixel, 9.7 inch screen, is set to change the overall user experience for medical apps that have a focus on imaging, such as anatomy applications.  Although this medical app review was done using an iPod Touch, we can only imagine how much more aesthetically pleasing the iPad’s experience will be. As will be discussed later in the post, these applications are a perfect example of how the upcoming iPad could be used in the clinic setting to improve patient education.

A key thing to remember is your iPhone medical apps will run just fine on the iPad.  This post will review a trio of Modality’s latest anatomy flash card apps and provide extensive pictures of the following: Clemente’s Anatomy, Rohen’s Photographic Anatomy, and Moore’s Clinical Anatomy.

Modality now has a variety of Anatomy Flashcard apps to choose from, depending on your preference. In addition to Netter’s Anatomy, an app we reviewed awhile back, Modality’s newest editions are Clemente’s, Moore’s and Rohen’s anatomy.  They are all priced at $24.99 (except for Netter’s, which is still $39.99).

Due to the similarities of these applications they will be reviewed in one post.  I’ve been using Modality’s Netter’s Anatomy Flashcards app for almost a year now and have a good reference to compare these new apps to.

Ultimately, your choice of anatomy app will come down to the anatomy book you like or the anatomy book your school uses.  I originally chose the Netter’s app for this reason.  These apps have generally the same user interface, and mainly differ on the type of anatomy images they provide.  However, individually, they each have some strengths and weaknesses.

Clemente’s

• Strengths: Great for the lymphatic system and also for schematics to simplify diagrams (e.g. brachial plexus, spinal nerve roots, dermatomes, etc.); Some X-ray images included; Excellent for bones and muscles.




• Weaknesses: Lacks “back of card” information that explains the anatomy in the illustration.

More Clemente’s Sample Pictures:

Moore’s

• Strengths: Excellent Cranial Nerves section and Head/Neck detail; great “back of card” information including effect of lesions to the area; Great illustrations for viscera and organs.




• Weaknesses: No X-ray images; Generally uses more ‘dull’ or pastel colors, consequently less aesthetically pleasing.

More Moore’s Sample Pictures:

Rohen’s

• Strengths: Fantastic color photos right from cadavers; Great brain/cranium/face specimens; Includes X-ray, Angiogram, CT and MRI images; Zooming in provides amazing level of detail; Would be very helpful for Anatomy Lab Practical.




• Weaknesses: Sometimes with real cadaver photographs it’s difficult to find what you’re looking for since everything is pretty much “flesh colored”; lacks “back of card” information.

More Rohen’s Sample Pictures:

What I liked about these applications:

It’s nice Modality offers you four different choices of anatomy apps for the iPhone that use the same user interface.  This makes switching between apps easy and it allows users to pick what works best for them. Here’s a quick list of the features that go beyond what you’d expect from the typical navigation in each individual “card”:

• The best feature is the ability to “Add Structure” to a card. That means you can include a new custom pin to label anatomy your own way, or you could use this pin to include a short mnemonic to help with memorization.
• For each structure there are links to Google and Wikipedia, allowing a quick way to search more info
• When using the zoom feature, image quality remains the same, and screen resolution is preserved.  Again, this feature should work fantastically on the iPad.
• Simple yet effective quiz mode on each card that asks you to find the structure in question.
• There is a decent search function on the main screen of the apps allowing you to directly find anatomic structures of the body.

What I didn’t like about these applications:

• You are not given the ability to add your own extensive notes to a whole card, or even to a given structure.
• Once you’re viewing a particular card/image you can no longer see the title of the card.  If you’ve forgotten what you’re looking at, you can’t easily check it again.  Instead, you have to click back to the menu to see the title and then click back into the card again.

What I would like to see in future updates:

• Ability to add custom notes on each separate card
• Ability to view the card title from within the card
• Landscape mode
• More advanced quiz features (overall quiz for all cards, random selection, % correct)

These anatomy apps would be good for the following:

Students will benefit the most from these Anatomy Flashcard apps. This includes medical students, but really all health professionals who need to learn anatomy (physician assistants, nurse practitioners, etc). The apps are also useful health care providers in general who need a quick anatomy refresher every once in a while or a good anatomy reference in your pocket.

Patient education, especially on the iPad

Another key function of these app would be for patient education.  Orthopedic surgeons or even family medicine doctors could show their patients the exactly anatomy of their pathologies.  These anatomy applications will also work on the soon to be released iPad, and showing patients these images on a beautiful display could improve their understand and also make their office visit more exciting.  These types of interaction could improve the overall patient physician relationship.

Conclusion:

The Modality Anatomy Flashcard apps are well designed and work well too. They are a good replacement for paper-based flashcards by the respective authors. The plus is that they are more mobile than paper-based cards; the minus is that you can’t share them with others easily (or sell them used when you’re done!).

Ultimately you really just need to pick the one app you like most and stick with it – use the brief descriptions at the beginning of this review to help you out, or take a look at the hard cover books/flashcard equivalents online or in a bookstore before you make the plunge and purchase one of the apps on iTunes. I personally might just hold on to two of them: Netter’s because I’m partial to his illustrations, and Rohen’s because I like the cadaver images used. But really I probably like these two most because they are the ones we used at my school.

Links:

Clemente’s Anatomy Flash Cards: Modality, iTunes, Publisher Website

Rohen’s Photographic Anatomy Flash Cards: Modality, iTunes, Publisher Website

Moore’s Clinical Anatomy Flash Cards: Modality, iTunes, Publisher Website

Iltifat Husain contributed to the writing of this post

Related Posts:

1. Human Body 3D Anatomy App Might be Useful for Patient Education, But Not Much Else [App Review]
2. Netter’s Musculoskeletal Flash Cards App Brings Back Classic Netter Drawings [App Review]
3. Gray’s Anatomy brought to the iPhone, Not the Show [App Review]

As the debut of the iPad fast approaches, speculation about it is reaching a fevered pitch. Scanning the thousands of articles written about the iPad’s potential, one may walk away thinking that Steve Jobs has just cured cancer, ended global warming, and established peace in the Middle East. Some people are even calling Apple’s latest creation the “Jesus tablet.” While the iPad probably falls somewhere short of some of those lofty projections, it has already done what Apple seems to do best – transformed the way we look at an existing market, in this case mobile computing and the tablet. We’ve talked previously about how the iPhone paved the way for the iPad in healthcare. Again, Apple’s entry into this market has signaled a huge shift in the way users will interact with the tablet and, through it, their environment.  This new user interface has a great deal of potential to change the way physicians deliver care. But perhaps more importantly, it could also have profound impacts on the way patients experience healthcare.

Innovative therapies

Over the past decade, there have been a number of examples of novel technologies being used either therapeutically for sick patients or in preventative care. For example, there have been numerous trials, with more success in the pediatric population, that use text messaging to remind patients to take their medications. When the iPhone transformed the user interface for the smartphone, therapies centered on that platform also emerged – autism and major depression are two conditions with iPhone apps that are therapeutic in nature. Enter the iPad. With a more advanced touchscreen, a high-quality webcam, and perhaps even 3d graphics, the possibilities become far more rich.

Take children with cancer – these kids can be hospitalized for weeks at a time and, due to the chemotherapy, stuck largely in isolation for most of that time. An app that utilizes the webcam to connect kids while playing a fun and interactive game together would provide a far richer interaction than a networked gaming console. Or consider the numerous elderly patients who succumb to delirium while in the hospital largely because, on top of being sick, life in the hospital, void of sunlight and normal sleep-wake patterns, gets so disorienting. Consider an app that, much like the mentally challenging games on the Nintendo DS, helps older patients stay a little more active during the day and perhaps ward of delirium. Will the iPad cure cancer or, for that matter, anything? No. But what it will do is provide some interesting and creative adjuncts to standard therapy that could make the patient’s quality of life a little better.

Improved patient-provider communication

In the ever growing iPhone app store, educational apps are among the most numerous. One of the biggest reasons why is because the interface allows user to interact with the material in a number of different ways. Take the Blausen Human Atlas or Pocket Heart – both of these apps allow the user to interact with anatomy in an incredibly rich way. With much more powerful graphics capabilities, these kinds of apps can certainly be taken to another level.

Consider a patient going into surgery. Today, explanation of the surgery is restricted to some form of charades by the surgeon and 2d radiology images. An app that allows 3d reconstructions of a patient’s scans to be pulled onto the iPad and manipulated would allow for a far better explanation, improving patient-physician communication. Or how about the diabetic patients or the heart failure patients? These poor folks are often subjected to hours of mind-numbing “educational” videos in the hospital – iPad apps could bring an element of interactivity that allows patients to engage with material that is critical to their health. Finally, consider the stroke patient. There are rumors that the iPad’s camera will be sufficiently sensitive to allow facial recognition. Perhaps then it could also be used to detect facial, or for that matter limb and trunk, motion with apps designed for post-stroke rehabilitation therapy. In a “game” format, individual goals outside of professional physical therapy could help empower the patient as they fight to recover.

The key opportunity that the iPad offers here is not just another platform to convey information, but a way to make it fun and engaging. While the iPad won’t replace a good physician taking the time to talk to a patient, it could certainly augment the patient-provider relationship in a fun and engaging way.

These are just a few ways that the iPad could transform the way a patient understands their illness and interacts with their healthcare providers. Among the most elusive goals in medicine is helping patients understand complex diseases and empower them to manage these conditions. Nothing will ever replace a strong patient-provider relationship, a personal support network, and evidence-based therapies based on a thorough scientific foundation. But the iPad could herald the introduction of innovative adjuncts that help patients take control of their own health and improve their quality of life.

Related Posts:

1. Five Lessons Apple must learn from current Healthcare Tablets if the Apple Tablet (iPad) is to Succeed in the Medical Industry
2. Apple iPad: Promising Features For Healthcare Use and Medical Education
3. How the iPhone has paved the way for a quicker transition by the Healthcare industry to an Apple OS Tablet

So you’re a practicing provider or you’re in medical school.  You’ve seen some interesting medical applications out there and you’re wondering if you should get an iPhone or an iPod Touch.  This is a scenario that is often e-mailed to our site from providers and students.  In order to answer this question, I’ll first talk about the differences between the two devices and how the user experience will vary from a medical standpoint.

The iPod Touch runs the same operating system as the iPhone, called the iPhone Operating System.  However, the iPod touch has key hardware limitations that differentiate it from the iPhone.

The major difference between the two is obvious.  The iPod Touch doesn’t have any cellular capabilities.  So in order to use the internet, you must be connected to WiFi (wireless internet).  This is key to note because there are certain applications that require you to have an internet connection.  Two that come to mind are the Blausen Human Atlas and the Clinical Orthopedic Exam Apps.  These apps can function without a dedicated internet connection, but you aren’t able to use them to their full potential.  Both apps require you to stream videos that are not built into the applications.

If you hospital has a dedicated WiFi connection and your iPod Touch can connect to this WiFi connection easily, then this difference will not affect you.  But if your hospital does not have a dedicated WiFi connection, or if it’s difficult for you to connect to the internet, than the iPhone would be a better option if you want to use applications such as these to their maximum potential.  Remember though, if you aren’t getting reception in the hospital, often the case with AT&T, than your iPhone won’t be able to connect to the internet unless you turn the WiFi on. 

My suggestion would be to contact your hospital’s IT department to see if they can connect your iPhone or iPod Touch to the wireless internet.  In order to use the WiFi in my hospital you have to go through a login screen, which can be extremely painful and annoying.  Luckily, the IT department is great and they were able to change the wireless setting on my iPhone so I didn’t have to go through the normal login screen anymore and and now my iPhone is always connected to WiFi. 

To be honest, for medical professionals, this is the main key difference between the two devices.  The medical apps we’ve run across don’t really utilize the added functionality of the iPhone, such as Push-notification, GPS, and the camera.  Medical Apps such as Epocrates, Merck Manual Professional, and other reference apps don’t require this added functionality and will run just fine on your iPod Touch. 

If you’re always in the hospital, and are easily able to connect to WiFi, then I’d recommend you stick to the iPod Touch and save yourself from having to pay the extra monthly data fee that comes with the iPhone.  Plus, if you’re a resident you’re working 24/7 anyways and you probably won’t even that that much of a chance to use the extra functionality. 

If you’re a medical student, all the study applications we’ve reviewed, such as the USMLE question banks and anatomy apps, will work just fine on an iPod Touch. 

There are also some minor differences, such as the lack of an extra “zoom” feature that the iPhone has.  I highlighted this in the iRadiology review.  This feature can be useful when looking at detailed radiology, however, it’s not that big of a deal.

Now if you want to get the iPhone because you want a dedicated smart phone, than by all means, it’s a great device.  I went with the iPhone because I need to always be connected to the internet so I can respond to e-mails.  I use the push-button notification,push-email, and GPS functionality constantly, but I’m fully aware that many healthcare professionals don’t. 

In our reviews, if a medical app has limitations on the iPod Touch, we almost always comment on it.  If you still aren’t sure though, feel free to comment on this post or a particular review before you buy a medical app and your question will get answered.

Related Posts:

1. How to sync the right user with the right medical app for their iPhone, iPod Touch, and the upcoming iPad
2. The Best and Most Useful Medical Apps for the iPhone or iPod Touch
3. Optimizing Your Medical Practice Experience with the iPod Touch

A new radiology learning tool was just released in the App Store, the iRadiology App.  This app has a catalog of over 500 radiology cases designed to help medical students and residents improve their plain film,CT, and MRI reading skills.  The cases are derived from Dr. Gillian Lieberman, who is the currently Director of Harvard Medical Student training and Associate Director of the Residency Program at Beth Israel Medical Center.  This legitimizes the content of the application.  In this review we’ll discuss the application further and also show you how to turn on the “Zoom” feature built into the iPhone that will enable you to improve the utility of this medical app.

When you open up this application you are presented with the above screen.  With the search feature, you can search for various cases based on certain key words, such as cardiovascular, chest, or actual pathologies.  I didn’t find the Search function to be very helpful, but the topics section was great for navigating with the application.

Activating the “Zoom” feature on your iPhone:

Before writing about this application further, I’ll quickly show you how to turn on the native “Zoom” function of your iPhone.  While this app allows you to zoom into pictures,  you can’t zoom in as close as you’d like sometimes, but when you turn on the native “Zoom” function in your iPhone, you can get significantly closer, making these images even more useful.

Go to Settings, tap General, then Accessibility.  Once you tapped on Accessibility, tap Zoom, and slide the Zoom feature to the On position.  The instructions for how to use the extra Zoom feature are shown on the same page.  Make sure you know how to manipulate the “To change zoom” portion correctly.  Below is an example:

This feature will also be useful for other medical applications that require you to read detailed images.  Now back to iRadiology.  For the purpose of this review, I’ll select “Chest” from the Topics section, and then in the subcategory I’ll select Lungs.

Within the Lungs section there are further subcategories, showing the great diversity of cases this application possess.  I’ll select Sarcoidosis and go from there.

When you tap on Labels, you are presented with the above picture, revealing key areas of the image. 

If you have the Zoom feature turned on, as explained at the beginning, you can zoom in ridiculously close and get a better picture of these films.  I wasn’t able to include the pictures where I used the “Zoom” feature because the iPhone doesn’t take screen shots of these pictures.

When you tap on Findings, you are presented with further information about the radiology case at hand, in this case, sarcoidosis.  I found this section to include a great deal of high yield information that is often asked on the USMLE step 1 and step 2 exams.

What I liked:

• Great wealth of knowledge, over 500 radiology cases
• Labels section does a great job of showing the pathology of interest
• Great diversity in the cases present
• Legitimate source for the pictures and cases provided in the application
• Great explanations of the radiology pathology presented in the application
• It’s FREE

What I didn’t like so much:

• Zoom feature, using the traditional pinch motion, could be more robust, although the iPhone’s new native “Zoom” feature can be used
• Supports landscape mode, but the Findings section can only be viewed in vertical screen.

What I’d like to see in future updates:

• Quiz Mode
• Bookmarking of favorite cases to review
• Built in link to Wikipedia for more information about the radiologic case at hand

Conclusion:

We’ve reviewed other radiology related applications before, such as iAnatomy, and the Joslin Chest Atlas.  iAnatomy did a great job of providing cross sectional CT images for anatomy learning, but did not provide pictures of various disease pathologies.  Joslin’s Chest Atlas provided some great plain chest film images, but the amount of content is limited with less than 100 images.  The beauty with iRadiology is in the huge amount of content provided, with over 500 radiology cases, and these cases are high yield as well.  The majority of these cases are ones I’ve seen in the hospital or have learned about.  Oh by the way, this app included plain film x-rays, CT scans, AND MRIs.

This application has the full package and I’d definitely recommend it to medical students, residents, or any other health care providers who want to improve their radiology reading skills.  With the price tag of “free” this app is a no brainer to download.

View Customer Reviews on iTunes »

Download Now on iTunes for Free »

Visit the App Website »

This app is 137 mb, so make sure you’re connected to a dedicated WiFi connection when downloading.

Also, special thanks to one of our readers in Taiwan for alerting us of this application.  Remember, many of our post ideas come from you, our readers.

Related Posts:

1. New England Journal of Medicine releases an iPhone app – free access to content for a limited time only! [App Review]
2. Interview with Dr. Lieberman, creator of the iRadiology App
3. Human Body 3D Anatomy App Might be Useful for Patient Education, But Not Much Else [App Review]

The big Apple buzz right now is how Apple has busted the company Molinker for having fraudulent reviews of its 1000+ applications in the App Store.  This scam was initially posted on iPhoneography.  The Molinker developer had many applications in the photography section of the App Store, which is why iPhoneography, a photography and videography blog uncovered this.  Basically the developer was giving out free applications to get 5 star reviews.  This wasn’t a small event though, they ended up giving out hundreds of free promo codes to the same people to post false reviews of all their applications.

While this controversy was happening I got the following email a few days ago from one of the iPhone developers who has medical applications in the store.  We’ve also reviewed their applications.  I’ve taken out his name and the applications he mentions until I have time to look into this situation some more.  We have reviewed one of the apps he claims is using the same techniques as Molinker was (We actually did not give that app a positive review).  One of the developers he mentions asked me many times how much money it would take to get a positive review, and did not seem to understand that we don’t take money for positive reviews.

Hi,

I recently read (here) that an iPhone publisher was banned from the app store for manipulating applications reviews. I’d like to bring to your attention another business that seems to use the same tactics of blatantly writing dozens of scam reviews to maintain top positions, this time in the medical section of the app store. If you do a search in iTunes for applications under any of the following three names:

<developer 1-name removed by editor>
<developer 2-name removed by editor>
<developer 3-name removed by editor>

You will discover that almost all positive reviews for the applications in these three businesses are written by reviewers that only review applications within the three.  Furthermore, the same 3D anatomy graphics are used across the three businesses indicating that they are not really separate entities.

I will not hide the fact that some of the applications from these businesses are in direct competition with my own applications.  As a developer who doesn’t use these crass techniques, I have up to now accepted this fate and hoped users would recognize the fraud (and some have, look for example at the one star reviews for <name removed by editor>). However some of the apps in these businesses continue to dominate the medical section of the app store.

I have not made this e-mail public nor divulged my name in this matter in fear of retaliation from the authors of the fraudulent reviews.
The new hard line attitude Apple has decided to take against fraudulent behavior gives me hope that the situation can be rectified.

Best Regards,

<medical app developer-name removed by editor>

This story overall is pretty fascinating, as it really gets to the integrity of the App Store.  This is really one of the reasons we do not give actual star rating for applications.  We’d rather our readers understand everything an application provides through our reviews, and then make a purchase based on a good understanding of the app.

Iltifat Husain
editor, iMedicalApps.com

Related Posts:

1. iPad customized medical apps already in the Apple App Store
2. What Exactly are the App Store’s Medical Standards?
3. Medical section for iPhone is plagued by non-medical apps

The term “Gray’s Anatomy” has become synonymous with the popular ABC show featuring surgeons who have ridiculous amounts of drama while somehow still finding time for the OR.  I’ve only seen one episode of the show, and would describe the main character as a black hole for drama, but anyways, before the show, “Gray’s Anatomy” was synonymous with gross anatomy, a very familiar text with medical students.  The full version of the Gray’s Anatomy text has now gone mobile and is ready to use on your iPhone.  There are a few versions of this app out, but I’ll be reviewing the Deluxe version.  In this review I’ll focus on how useful it might be for gross anatomy during the first year of medical school.

I preface this review by saying I’m not a huge fan of the Gray’s Anatomy book.  Instead, I was a huge fan of the Netters Anatomy text during my first year of medical school.  Netters has vibrant colors and beautiful illustrations that made gross anatomy significantly easier for me to understand.  On the flip side, I found the Gray’s Anatomy book to be more functional, and significantly less aesthetically pleasing.

There are actually Netters Anatomy Flash Cards already in the App Store.  We have reviewed one of their apps already on this website, the Musculoskeletal app.  The problem is all the Netters Apps are divided into sections, such as,“Musculoskeletal”, “Head and Neck”, and are only available individually.  The nice part about this app is all of Gray’s Anatomy is present and the price is significantly cheaper as well at at $9.99. (Currently the App is on sale for $4.99).

So I’ve already mentioned how I’m not a fan of the images present in the Gray’s Anatomy book, and you’d think the rest of the review here on out would be me bashing this app in favor of the Netters Anatomy apps.  Well….not exactly.  I was pleasantly surprised by this application.

This app is pretty large, 402 mb due to to the thousands of pictures it contains, so make sure you’re connected to Wi-Fi when downloading this app.  You can sense the size of the app because of the increased length in loading time.  I have an iPhone 3gS, and this app takes the longest to load out of any apps I have, which is only a second or two longer than usual.  I imagine it would take a few seconds extra to load on the 3G and 2G phones.

When you open up the app you are presented with 3 main navigation areas.  Search, Tips on how to use the App, and the basic table of contents.  You quickly realize how crucial the “Tips on how to use this App” section is when you try to dive into the app with reckless abandonment.

The Tips sections is definitely helpful and you realize the app actually has a pretty nice User Interface and Navigation built in.  The navigation gives you a key toolbar when you are viewing images.  The Menu selection allows you to go back/forward, search and access the index.  There is also a key “text icon” that brings up information about the anatomic figure you’re looking at.  I can’t stress how nice this text information is.  It gives you a descriptions of the anatomy you are looking at and gives you information on related anatomy.  This text section is essentially where your gross anatomy test questions will come from, and this app does a beautiful job of laying out this information.

The search feature is actually pretty nice once you realize how to use it.  For this review, I searched for the brachial nerve.  When I did this I got the option to view different anatomical pictures at different angles, as you can see from the pictures.  Once you get the picture that you feel gives you the right angle, good luck finding what you’re looking for unless you know where to look.  Gross Anatomy was 3 years ago for me, and I definitely forgot a lot of it.  If you know what you’re looking for, and actively taking an anatomy class, then you’ll be able to use this portion of the app much better.

Even though it took me a few extra seconds to find what I was looking for, again, I was extremely impressed by the text portion of this application.  The text gave me information on all the nerves I was looking at, key innervations, and the nerve branches I need to know.

When it comes to the pictures I refer you to the comments I made earlier, and the screen shots I have taken.  The anatomy in this application is not readily identifiable and I would definitely not suggest exclusively using these images to study for your practical.

What I Liked:

• Search feature is robust
• Text information in each diagram is key for gross anatomy questions you’ll be asked
• “Tips on how to use the App” section is definitely helpful

What I didn’t like:

• It can be difficult to find anatomy of interest using the pictures
• Did I mention I really don’t like the images?
• Tables of contexts, I’d rather see things separated into sections, e.g. Head/Neck, Musculoskeletal

What I’d like to see improved:

• This is probably not possible, but if the authors somehow went through and labeled the anatomic figures so they would be easier to identify.  Again, this would understandably take forever to do, and its probably never going to happen, but if it did I would pay big money for this app.

Conclusion:

So I’ve made it painfully evident I’m not a fan of the pictures in this application and you should definitely not use this application as the sole way to memorize the anatomy you need.  That said, the text provided in each image is rich and very informative.  The text is not too long, but just right, and you get hit with key information you’ll need for your anatomy tests questions (e.g, innervation, branching, key related structures).

Do I recommend this App? It depends. If you need a great anatomy app that has great content from a text standpoint, then yes, get it.  However, if you are looking for an anatomy app with aesthetically pleasing pictures and one to help you for your lab practicals, then this is not that app.  Now if the developers could add some of the labeling my opinion would change.

The price of this app is another reason I would recommend it to the above people.  At $9.99 (currently $4.99), this app is a great deal when compared to the Netters apps, which only give anatomy in sections.  Each of the Netter Anatomy sections costs a whopping $39.99, pretty expensive for medical students.  If this app was the same price as the Netter applications I would not recommend it, however, its clearly not.

We’ve reviewed other Anatomy applications but they all failed to include key information about the actual anatomy you are reviewing.  This application definitely excited us because it did not fall into this category.

View Customer Reviews on iTunes »

Download Now on iTunes for $0.99 »

Visit the App Website »

By: Iltifat Husain, MD/MPH student, MS4

Related Posts:

1. AnatomyLab App Takes Gross Anatomy to a Whole New Level [App Review]
2. Human Body 3D Anatomy App Might be Useful for Patient Education, But Not Much Else [App Review]
3. Anatomy Apps: Clemente’s, Rohen’s, and Moore’s Anatomy Flash Card Apps: Similar User Interface, but Different Images, Could Be Used for Patient Education on the iPad [App Review]

The Human Body 3D Anatomy App enables you to view different organ systems from a 3D perspective.  The app also offers an encyclopedia with some basic information about the organ systems.  It currently holds the #2 ranking in the paid medical apps section and costs $3.99.  This app has some of the same 3D features and graphics found in the 3D Brain app, which we recently reviewed.  Unlike the 3D Brain app that has detailed labeling of structures, this app’s largest shortcoming is the lack of labels on any of the structures present. I’ll mention more of these shortcomings in this full review.

When you open this app you are presented with three options.  Encyclopedia, 3D organs, or Radiography.

Encyclopedia mode gives you different organ systems to choose from.  Once you have selected your system, you are given some basic information about your selected system with some aesthetically pleasing pictures.  I found the cardiology system to be the best because it talks about basic physiology of how the heart works.  Unfortunately, the information is too basic for a medical student or someone in a college/graduate level anatomy class.  You can find essentially the same information in Wikipedia.

The 3D organs system has great aesthetics.  The pictures render quickly and are fun to look at, much like the 3D brain app.  You can rotate the pictures 360 degrees and zoom in and out.  The largest shortcoming of this app is made glaringly clear in this section.  There are no labels!!  In the picture I’ve included you can see the heart and brain, which look beautiful, and you can manipulate these pictures in essentially a three dimensional fashion, but you can’t see any labels.  This makes the app useless for people learning anatomy, or even patients who want to find a particular structure.

The Radiography option of this app allows you to see x-rays of the chest, head, arms, and legs.  There is random information in each of these sections about the particular x-ray format.  (e.g., The difference between an AP view and a PA view).  The images are in this weird greenish tint that I’ve never seen before.  None of the x-rays are actually explained, rather you just get info about the type of x-ray.  Again, this all looks pretty, but for people in a graduate level  course or medical school, it’s not useful.  However, I could see how this information might be useful for a patient with laymen knowledge about x-rays.

What I liked:

• I really like the overall User Interface of this app.  It’s clean and not cluttered.
• There is a nice tutorial section that gives a good explanation about how to navigate the application
• Could potentially be used to show patients the localization of their disease pathology in the relevant organ system
• 3D navigation of organ systems is athletically pleasing and utilizes the graphics of the iPhone

What I didn’t like as much:

• No labeling of the organ systems, or anything else for that matter.  Basically making the app useless for Anatomy Study
• Information in the encyclopedia is too basic and not in depth
• Not a fan of the green tint of the x-ray images
• Not enough 3D images of each organ system, e.g., you can see a full lung, but you cant see the cross sections.

What could be improved upon:

• Labels, Labels, Labels, Labels. I cant emphasize that enough.  A glaring example of this is the 3D image of the brain, which is color coded into proper lobes, but there are no labels!
• More 3D images of each organ system: e.g., It would be great to have the ability to see the heart valves and then show a patient the mitral valve
• Pictures of pathologic conditions, or “damaged” organ systems: e.g. This is what the intestines of a patient who has Crohn’s disease looks like.

Conclusion:

It should be noted I’m reviewing this app from a medical perspective, which is why I don’t really find it useful for medical professionals.  It seems this app would be better suited to be in the Healthcare section of the app store, rather than the medical.  The app has a great user interface and people who want to see cool images of organ systems might like this application.

This app is definitely not useful for studying anatomy but has a great potential to do this in the future.  If labels were added to this application, people studying basic anatomy would find it useful.  Until then, there isn’t really an educational component to this application, other than the sparse encylopedia it contains.

The only way I can see the 3D organs section and Radiography section being useful is if you are trying to explain to a patient the pathology of a disease and where it’s localized.  But you better know where to look for, because there are no labels to guide you.

To me this app seems to be more of a novelty application that would find a larger audience if it was in the healthcare section of the App Store.  I can see people with a layman understanding of anatomy finding it useful and fun to use because of the 3D rendering of organ systems, maybe that’s the reason for its high ranking in the App Store.

This app definitely has potential, but until labels are added, I wouldn’t recommend it to people in the medical field.

View Customer Reviews on iTunes »

Download Now on iTunes for $3.99 »

Visit the App Website »

Related Posts:

1. Anatomy Apps: Clemente’s, Rohen’s, and Moore’s Anatomy Flash Card Apps: Similar User Interface, but Different Images, Could Be Used for Patient Education on the iPad [App Review]
2. Blausen Human Atlas App Enhances Physician Patient Relationship [App Review]
3. Gray’s Anatomy brought to the iPhone, Not the Show [App Review]

The App, 3D Brain, has been out since October, but it’s location under the “education” category of the App Store allowed it to slip under our radar.  The 3D app is derived from the Genes to Cognition Online website, funded by the Dana Foundation and Hewlett Foundation.  Using the native iPhone gestures, the app allows you to zoom and rotate images of the brain in a three dimensional fashion.  In this post I’ll cover how this app can be used with your patients.

When you open up this application you are greeted with a picture of the brain, color coded by regions.  You can rotate this picture around and also zoom in and out.  In the toolbar there is a great Help Section that tells you how to use the zoom and rotate features.  The toolbar also allows you to reveal labels, search for different parts of the brain, and get more information on the various parts of the brain you are viewing.

I can’t emphasize how fun this app is to use.  There is definitely a “wow” factor pertaining to their utilization of the iPhones graphics.  When I show this app to colleagues many of them go ahead and download it right there because of how fun it is.  Wi-Fi is needed to download this app because of it’s size (49.5mb).

I could see this app being used to help study for basic brain anatomy but I feel it has a greater potential, such as being used to education patients on different brain pathologies.  When trying to explain to a family member why their loved one is having difficulty with speech after a stroke you could quickly show Broca’s area in a three dimensional fashion.  Your point would get across a lot better this way than to exclusively show CT or MRI images.

In the future I’d love to see them incorporate cross sectional images of the brain with detailed labeling.  This would help with learning more anatomy and it would also help you explain more complex diseases, such as Parkinsons.

Needless to say, it’s definitely an app that all neurologists should have.  But even if you’re not a neurologist, it’s free so you might as well download it and have fun playing with the three dimensional imaging.

View Customer Reviews on iTunes »

Download Now on iTunes for Free »

Visit the App Website »

Related Posts:

1. 3D brain app is on the iPad – it’s still free and fun to use
2. Human Body 3D Anatomy App Might be Useful for Patient Education, But Not Much Else [App Review]
3. iRadiology App Provides Massive Amounts of Radiology Content, and its Free [App Review]