Last week we did a feature review of the iRadiology App, a recently released free radiology learning tool.  I thought it was a must have medical application for medical students and residents.  The application provides over 500 radiology cases explained in detail.  I had a quick Q&A with Dr. Lieberman to discuss the direction of this great learning tool and whether or not it will remain free. 

iMedical Apps: What was the inspiration of the app?

Dr. Lieberman: I have been a director of medical education for radiology at Harvard Medical School for 26 years and have dedicated my career to teaching, which has been very fulfilling. I have developed a number of different web-based learning programs, which can be accessed for no charge on my Lieberman’s eRadiology website at http://eradiology.bidmc.harvard.edu   This app is an extension of one of the programs I offer online.

iMedical Apps: How long did it take to develop iRadiology?

Dr. Lieberman: The app is based on Lieberman’s Classics Collection in Radiology, available at http://eradiology.bidmc.harvard.edu/Classics/ which has taken two years to develop and is continuously being expanded – we are adding an extensive cardiovascular section with CT and MRI multiplanar imaging this month.

iMedical Apps: Will the app stay free in the app store?

Dr. Lieberman: Our hope is to keep the app free in the app

store.

A special thanks to Dr. Lieberman for providing such a great resource for those learning how to read various imaging.  We look forward to seeing the additions to the application and I encourage everyone to use the online resources Dr. Lieberman mentioned as well.  I wish I had known about this earlier in my clinical years and it’s definitely a source I’ll use for residency. 

Link to the full review of the iRadiology medical app, available for the iPhone and iPod Touch.

Related Posts:

1. iRadiology App Provides Massive Amounts of Radiology Content, and its Free [App Review]
2. App Giveaway and Interview With Creator of MD on Call app
3. New Swine Flu App Released, Made by Harvard Medical School

MD on Call is a medical app aimed at interns, residents, and 3rd/4th year medical students. It’s a great app geared to help you with those 4am calls you get from nurses and is also a great reference for patient care in general. We did a full review of this app a few days back and were definitely impressed. MD on Call is available for $5.99 in the App Store.

The app’s creator, Marc-Emile Plourde was gracious enough to give our readers ten promo codes along with an exclusive interview. This is the first interview we’ve done and we hope to make it a more constant thing. It’s always interesting to see the creative minds behind some of these great medical apps. A note to our readers, due to the popularity of the site, we’ll be re-launching with a new layout and a new name, iMedicalapps.com. This transition will most likely occur at the start of next week. We’ll give you more details later this week.

The promo codes will be given out on a first come basis. Continue on for the interview and the 10 promo codes.

Interview:

Marc-Emile Plourde is a second year resident in Kingston, Ontario and the creator of the medical app, MD on Call.

What was the inspiration of this application? How long did it take to develop this app, and what were the biggest challenges you faced?

Marc-Emile Plourde: When I started residency (no internship in Canada; it’s med school year 4 to R1), There were quite a few situations where I found myself wondering “there must be an easier way” i.e. the patient is in stable rapid aFib and NPO: you know you should start a BB, but which one? what is considered a “normal starting dose”? During the day, it’s easy to find those answers (either you ask a senior or you spend a few minutes on Up-to-Date), but at night, 1-you usually don’t have the time because you’re running all over the place 2-your senior is at home and you don’t want to wake him up to ask him about metoprolol for a stable patient 3-you’re way too tired to read through one or two Up-to-Date topics.

After a year of doing calls, I thought I could put some of the things I’ve learned into an app that could actually be useful to med students, interns and junior residents going through the same thing. I wanted it to be like having a more senior resident helping you out.

It took me over 5 months to design the app, to write the vignettes and to learn html so that I could “present” the information in the way I wanted: lots of thoughts have been put on spacing, colours, fonts… the goal was to make it useful at the bedside, not to turn a book or a website into an app…

Biggest challenges… I expected to do something way more basic than what the app ended up being. Also, small things, such as the list of the acronyms being used in the app and creating metadata for the search function all ended up taking a lot of time compared to its apparent usefulness. So I guess overall time ended up being the biggest challenge (However, I’ll point out that I didn’t do the coding for the app, one of my friend did — the guy that did the speed bones, muscle and angio series)

How do you see this application being used in the clinic and hospital setting?

Marc-Emile Plourde: The app is meant to be used, you guessed it, when on call. However, different sections can be used thought the day, especially when a patient deteriorates.

Who was the target audience you were going for in this application?

Marc-Emile Plourde: As mentioned before, senior med students, interns and junior residents. Even though a lot of people will “outgrow” the app during residency (and I kinda hope they will), I think it can still be a good one to keep on your iPhone for those rarer situations, or to have those ECG values everyone tends to forget nearby.

What are some updates our readers can expect in the future for this application?

Marc-Emile Plourde: We are working on adding support for landscape mode and a few additions to the vignettes. Also, version 1.0.1 recently added a quick link to the “management” section (by taping on the vignette’s heading) — it’ll save you a good 2 seconds of scrolling!!!

Are you developing any other apps we should be on the lookout for in the future? If so, can you at least give us a hint on what the app might be about?

Marc-Emile Plourde: Nothing for the near future: I’m trying to put residency higher on my priority list

MD on Call App Giveaway, promo codes:

Remember to leave a comment letting others know which promo code you used! In order to redeem the code on your iPhone or iPod touch, open up the App Store. Go to the “Featured” section icon in the lower left of the screen. Scroll down, and you’ll see a “Redeem” option. Also, I believe these codes are only redeemable in the U.S. app store.

1. PW6X3N6XE976

2. 6ETP33XT4A4L

3. MANTLLF6FHYW

4. WYTHJ7L4AKJA

5. R3MNWY6YXRJF

6. 64LREK6JXPW3

7. TP4AN76AT4EH

8. LH34FYR4376E

9. WK3JXANT7HRP

10. 66LH6W3L6MRM

Our full review of the application can be found here.

The iTunes link of the application can be here.

The developers website.

-iMedical Apps Team

Please note: We were not able to upload the comments from this original post from our old website.  Needless to say, all the promo codes were used up pretty quickly.

Related Posts:

1. Interview with Dr. Lieberman, creator of the iRadiology App
2. App Giveaway, USMLE Buzz Flashcards
3. MD on Call App Hopes to Make Your Call Nights Less Painful [App Review]