Apple has made it clear that current iPhone apps will run on the iPad.  For many of the medical apps we’ve reviewed, its welcome news, but it won’t make the user experience of these apps any different.  However, there are a few medical apps currently on the iPhone whose user experience should be greatly enhanced by the iPad’s 9.7 inch 1024 x 768 pixel display.

The following are the top 5 medical apps we’re excited to see in action on the iPad.  This list is focused for health care professionals, and stay tuned for another list for medical students.

(1) Blausen Human Atlas – When I think of the iPad in medicine, this app embodies one area in which the iPad could shine.  The Blausen Human Atlas includes 3D figures of human anatomy, an expansive medical glossary, over 1,000 still images, and a library of videos explaining common medical conditions like GERD and osteoarthritis.

Basically, everything in this app is designed with the goal of improving patient-physician communication. A provider who is trying to explain cholecystitis to a patient could access videos that explain the disease, still images to clarify any confusing points, and even 3D figures of GI anatomy to explain the corrective surgery.  The app performs admirably on the iPhone’s 3.5 inch display, but on a display more than twice this size – the iPad’s – it should shine.

Links: Blausen Human Atlas App Review
[iTunes Link]

(2) Visual Dx Mobile – This recently released app aims to be much more than a reference tool for dermatologic disease, aiming to be a point-of-care decision support tool when it comes to skin lesions. Perhaps I’m partial to it because rashes are the bane of my existence, but this app condenses an enormous library of information into a novel format – the “visual differential diagnosis.” And that is what I would love to see on the iPad – large, high-resolution images that would help me distinguish herpes zoster from dermatitis herpetiformis or chancroid from LGV.

Or, similar to the Blausen Human Atlas app, I could use the “Find a Diagnosis” function and use the information and images for melanoma to show a high-risk patient what he or she needs to be looking for. Again, the interactive and fluid user interface could only help enhance the communication between myself and my patients.

Links: Visual Dx Mobile App Review
[iTunes Link]

(3) Procedures Consult from Modality, are a series of apps that provide the user with extensive information on a number of procedures. With apps geared towards Internal Medicine, Family Practice, Ob/Gyn, and a number of other specialties, this family of apps has something for most specialties.

The highlights of these apps are the fantastic video tutorials complete with a narrator, interspersed still images to highlight key learning points, and integrated “clinical pearls.” There are even post-procedure videos that highlight things like how to submit pleural fluid to the lab.

The Procedures Consult series was clearly designed with the learner in mind. And as good as these videos are on the iPhone, they will be even better on the iPad – I can’t stress enough how helpful it will be to see, say, an LP on the iPad screen vs. the iPhone screen. And another big plus for these apps is that all videos are stored locally on your device, a crucial feature in the hospital or even rural clinics where internet access may be iffy.

Links: Procedures Consult – Internal Medicine review, Procedures Consult – Family Medicine review, Procedures Consult – Musculoskeletal review
iTunes Links: Internal Medicine Procedures, Musculoskeletal Procedures, Family Medicine Procedures

(4) OsiriX or eFilm – When the iPhone first came out, the image that most blew me away was the display of radiology imaging on a phone. These are the apps that make it happen and its probably not a surprise to anyone to see them on the list. The ability to access the brain MRI, ordered to rule-out a stroke from my call room at 3am (saving me a trip to a radiology viewing station), sounds great.

To view them on the beautiful high-resolution screen of the iPad will be even better. And the capacitive touch screen means I can manipulate these images and, hopefully soon, even annotate them or send messages to the radiologist asking about a strange incidental finding.

Last year OsiriX was used in a study to accurately diagnose acute appendicitis using the iPhone – showing huge potential for these apps.

Links: OsiriX App Review
[iTunes Link]

(5) Papers – This award winning medical app allows you to easily view research papers, and allows your to put all of your literature into mobile form.  One of the biggest knocks on the iPhone is how its difficult to read pdf files due to limitations of screen size.  The Papers app does a remarkable job of optimizing PDF viewing capability on the iPhone, and this same functionality will only enhance the user experience on the iPad.

Links: Papers App Review
[iTunes Link]

Other Noteable Medical apps worth mentioning:

*Merck Manual Professional Edition

*Epocrates Electronic Health Record

Iltifat Husain contributed to this post

Related Posts:

1. Five iPad Accessories for Health Care Professionals
2. Top 10 Free iPhone Medical Apps for Health care Professionals
3. iPad customized medical apps already in the Apple App Store

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]

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]

The momentum and enthusiasm in the mobile technology world is, these days, clearly with Google.  The question for many people is whether to go with the reigning champion of the mobile device world(arguably Apple) or to take a chance on the challenger. The Nexus One, the flagship of the Android family of mobile devices, was unveiled to much fanfare in advance of the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas. The veritable King Midas of the online world had finally decided to take on its equally successful counterpart in the consumer electronics world. In the middle of this battle of the corporate titans, what’s the medical professional to do?

Previous commentary has often focused on the first few Android-based phones in comparison to the iPhone, such as our previous post addressing Verizon’s Droid vs. iPhone. But the choice is much broader – as integration of local and web-based resources improves, you’re really making a choice between a parallel suite of services. As Nick Bilton of the New York Times points out, the Nexus One is highly integrated with Google’s suite of online tools. So if you use Google Reader to keep up with the New England Journal, have your institutional emails centralized in your Gmail account, or otherwise live in the “Google world” then the Nexus One and Android-family of phones may have some clear functionality advantages.

Another advantage that Google brings is an army of software and hardware developers via the Open Handset Alliance who support the Android operating system, which is a Linux-based open source system. As such, Google does not charge mobile device manufacturers for Android, which Saul Hansell of the New York Times suggests may be because Google’s real ambition here is to prevent anyone, whether Apple or Microsoft, from controlling the mobile OS market. Some forecasts are suggesting that Android will control a larger percentage of the market than Apple by as early as 2012, with a forecast by Gartner Inc. estimating a 14.5% to 13.7% advantage. The plus here for medical professionals could be an operating system that evolves more rapidly and stimulates a even richer suite of applications produced by third party developers. We’ve already looked at some of these possible medical apps, such as dictation services for the Nexus One.

However, this same potential strength also exposes a potential weakness, namely fragmentation of the Android market leading to incompatibility across different handsets running the “same” Android operating system. Differences in phone features, screen sizes, and other characteristics could create some pains for developers, especially as new players like Lenovo and Dell join the traditional handset manufactures and create even more diversity in the Android market. In our commentary on whether the Droid will motivate developers, one developer commented that there is a substantial opportunity cost involved with learning a new platform. While a large Android community may raise the incentive to enter this market, fragmentation would essentially mean that developers will be weighing many small markets against the large cost of learning the relevant platforms.

Another recently exposed weakness is customer support. Google has traditionally relied on online forums, FAQ sites, and other similarly low-cost support mechanisms for its online suite of applications. With the release of the Nexus One, Google has started to learn a hard lesson that Apple has done pretty well with – keeping customers happy when things go wrong. Right now, early-adopters of the Nexus One have to call Google for software problems, HTC for hardware problems, and T-Mobile for service problems. As you can imagine, there are a fair number of people who are pretty unhappy with this. And if mobile technology is going to continue to expand among medical professionals, then reliability and robust support are a must.

All in all, the Nexus One and the Android family are well positioned and widely predicted to become a big time player in the mobile market. The iPhone has clearly transformed the mobile technology market and developers like Modality have used this platform to develop innovative and valuable tools for medical professionals. But many of the advantages the iPhone boasted when it first appeared, especially the rich developer community, are now being replicated and expanded upon by the Android family. And if Google is really not looking to turn the Android Operating System into a major revenue source, then it could be an even more dangerous challenger for the iPhone.

Originally Posted on MedPage Today ; Iltifat Husain contributed to this post.

Related Posts:

1. Epocrates app now available for Android Smartphone – Medical professionals with Droid and Nexus One rejoice
2. Should medical professionals get an iPhone, Blackberry, or Android phone? It’s complicated.
3. Epocrates Rx for Android gets reviewed – Our first Android medical app review

Campbell’s Operative Orthopedics is a cornerstone of any orthopedic surgeon’s library. It’s one of the few volumes that every resident knows he or she will have to own – no point complaining about the price. If a junior resident shows up to do a case and has not at least read the requisite chapter in Campbell’s, then they should be prepared to go no further than a few hours of holding retractors for the attending and making idle chit-chat.

So, the arrival of an iPhone version of this four volume tome is certainly an important milestone. How did they do? This full review will explain.

This iPhone / iPod Touch medical application is another collaboration between the book’s publisher Elsevier and the mobile medical software publisher Modality.  As with other Modality titles, the user interface is clean and easy to navigate. The transition between text and images is easy to understand and the wealth of videos will please almost any user. A total of 242 techniques and nearly 25 videos have been ported to the mobile application.  Of course, the videos come with a storage price of  874 Mb on your iPhone or iPod Touch. While this will almost certainly be the largest app on your iPhone, a few minutes of use will have you wondering how you got by without it.

What I liked:

• gives you the opportunity to think about upcoming surgeries while on the go
• uncluttered and straightforward user interface
• text reduced to mobile screen-ready bullet points
• numerous embedded videos
• 1/4th the price of the printed version with DVD (currently more than $400 on Amazon.com)

What I didn’t like so much, and what could be improved upon:

• a “home” button to navigate to the root menu would be handy as it sometimes takes 3-4 steps to return
• the chapter authors are not always identified, important to know since surgical techniques are as much surgeon preference as science
• displaying the appropriate bullet point from the text beneath the operative drawings would make them even more valuable
• would like to have references from the text for additional reading (as an example, see the previously reviewed Clinical Orthopaedic Exam App)
• an option to enter your own notes for procedures would be a nice addition

Conclusion:

Disseminating text and visual information on surgical techniques would seem an obvious fit for technology and there are several very good resources already.The American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons has “Orthopedic Knowledge Online”, a members-only website with surgical techniques and videos.  Other sources are the subscription-based Video Journal of Orthopedics, that is aligned with the important Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery and VuMedi is a commercial site with a wealth of videos and good social networking features. The missing link seems to be a mobile interface, so that the information is made available at the point of care. In that sense, the arrival of this application is timely.

Since surgical techniques are, to a large part, surgeon preference, there will likely never be a single definitive source of information. Nevertheless, within orthopedics, Campbell’s is as close as it gets to an authoritative resource. This pedigree immediately lifts this application, while the clean and easy to navigate interface makes it more attractive than the cluttered facade of all three of the above sites.

It is also striking that despite the wealth of information and careful editing that goes into a finely crafted tome such as Campbell’s Operative Orthopedics, textbooks still stand as isolated silos of information in an otherwise highly networked and rapidly-evolving internet era. Therefore, more innovations in medical education must necessarily be yet to arrive. For now though, just about every orthopedic resident and most attendings with an iPhone or iPod Touch would do well to save up the $99 to buy this application.

View Customer Reviews on iTunes »

Download Now on iTunes for $99.99 »

Visit the App Website »

-Dr. Wodajo is a senior writer for iMedical Apps and we feel privileged to have him on board.  He brings an extensive clinical background to his medical app reviews. His blog can be found at http://www.orthoonc.com.

Related Posts:

1. Procedures Consult – Musculoskeletal App Superbly Demonstrates Common Bedside Orthopedic Techniques [App Review]
2. High Performing Apps Enter the Android Market – CORE (Clinical Orthopedic Exam) App Delivers [Android Medical App Review]
3. Modality Brings Procedures Consult App to the iPhone, We’re Blown Away [App Review]

If one wanted to get an idea of the potential of the iPhone as a tool for bedside medical and surgical education, this application by Modality and Elsevier would be a good starting place to get inspired. While it seems obvious that a portable device with a great user interface, a sophisticated operating system and great multimedia features should be a shoe-in for portable medical education, what is equally true is that the critical ingredient remains great instructional content.

“Procedures Consult: Internal Medicine – Musculoskeletal” brings together a highly detailed review of orthopedic bedside procedures, such as aspiration of small and large joints, splint application and reduction of joint dislocations, with a well crafted user interface to create an application that will genuinely be useful for emergency room physicians and junior orthopedic residents.  This review will cover how this medical application for the iPhone and iPod Touch goes about teaching these procedures.

The content is derived from Elsevier’s Procedures Consult website, which is a curated video site describing over 270 procedures spanning several disciplines. (Please see the recent review of the companion application “Procedures Consult: Internal Medicine – General” on this website. The content for this application is derived mostly from the emergency medicine/musculoskeletal section. The information for each procedure consists of pre-procedure and post-procedure check lists as well as step-by-step instructions of the procedure itself, accompanied by references. In addition, one or more videos for each procedure is embedded into the app, available for immediate viewing. Surface landmarks are shown graphically as is a simplified 3 cut-away dimensional graphic of the relevant deep anatomy. Some procedures, such as shoulder reductions, are also accompanied by a representative radiographs of the problem.

What I liked about this app:

• the attention to the relevant surface and deep anatomy, as well as the indications for each procedure is very helpful
• videos are of high quality and are embedded directly in the application. (refer to other Procedures consult review for more details)
• the techniques themselves are well-described and, I believe, few practitioners will find much cause to quibble with the instructions

What I did not like about the app:

• not much really, perhaps the post procedure care is unrealistically detailed for the typical bedside interaction

What I’d like to see in future versions:

• the content for this application is aimed mostly at ED procedures, which is surely a good market, however a future application with a more orthopedic focus, including closed fracture management and even surgical procedures would certainly be appreciated

Conclusion:

While there has been a proliferation of medical instructional websites over the last five years, bringing that information to the bedside is more than just a convenience, it is a critical next step. Websites and mobile applications will not replace peer-reviewed scientific literature nor the principle of apprenticeship in medical training. However, I can easily imagine when all post-graduate trainees are routinely expected to refer to mobile applications such as this one before undertaking unfamiliar procedures. This will undoubtedly reduce errors and enhance the care of our patients.

Title of app: Procedures Consult: Internal Medicine – Muscloskeletal

View Customer Reviews on iTunes »

Download Now on iTunes for $39.99 »

Visit the App Website »

Dr. Wodajo is a guest contributor to the medical app review team and we feel privileged to have him on board. He brings an extensive clinical background to the reviews. His blog can be found at http://www.orthoonc.com.

Related Posts:

1. Modality Brings Procedures Consult App to the iPhone, We’re Blown Away [App Review]
2. Procedures – Subclavian Line App Helps Teach You Key Procedure [App Review]
3. Procedures – Hospital Collection App: 15 Procedures Taught With Extensive Multimedia [App Review and Comparison]

Procedure apps appear to be all the rage lately in the mobile medical world, and rightfully so. These instructional apps are a valuable resource to those learning how to do procedures in the health care world. We reviewed another Procedures app recently, Procedures Consult-Internal Medicine, that covers a wide variety of procedures. However, this app focuses on one specific procedure, and is a fraction of the cost.

Procedures – Subclavian Line, is a $2.99 app produced by MeisterMed. You might remember one of our previous reviews on a MeisterMed app, PediDoser. We weren’t huge fans of that app (although to their credit, PediDoser has a 3.5 star rating in the App Store). Nonetheless, once I tried out this current app for this review I was definitely impressed.

I’ve had the opportunity to do a few subclavian lines as a medical student, and the experience is exciting and frightening at the same time. The best way to learn at first is to see, but unfortunately you don’t always have a good view, or the resident might not be the best teacher. Thats where this app comes in.

The navigation is pretty simple. When the app opens you have the option to view the procedure details or watch the full video. In the procedure details section you have a few different options, from step-by-step instructions to complications and coding numbers. There is also a toolbar at the bottom of the screen. It contains navigation tools, bookmarking, and an option to write custom notes. The bookmarking feature was not useful, but the custom note feature was a nice touch.

Video:

The video is approximately 10 minutes long and included within the app. You don’t need internet access to view the video. It shows the full procedure being done from start to finish. The audio component of the video is instructional. I found the audio to be layered nicely with the video. The instructions were concise, high yield, and the explanation of the procedure was excellent.

What I liked:

• Simple, easy to use
• Great Price
• Ability to take custom notes
• Video is standalone, no Internet access required
• The verbal explanation during the video is done well
• There is a separate text section step by step instructions.

What I didn’t like and Improvements that could be made:

• Overall video is great, but at 10 minutes in length, it would be nice to see the video broken into separate sections that are easy to access.
• It would be nice to see text inter-laid with the video on the crucial steps of the procedure, so you can view the video without always needing the audio
• The step by step text instructions only contain one picture. More pictures would be nice additions to this section.

Conclusion:

This is a great medical application for those learning how to do subclavian line procedures. It’s simple, easy to use, and easily accomplishes its goal of teaching how to put in a subclavian line. Like I’ve mentioned with past procedure applications, there is no substitute for getting lots of supervised practice before actually doing this procedure on your own. However, this app definitely reduces the apprehension felt when attempting this procedure for the first time under supervision. I could also see it helping speed up the learning time needed for this procedure.

The previous procedures app we reviewed, Procedures Consult-Internal Medicine, had 25 procedures explained(including subclavian line), but costs $39.99. We really liked that app, but if you don’t need access to all those procedures or don’t want to spend that much right now, then this app is a great buy at $2.99.

I’d definitely recommend this medical application as a must have for 3rd/4th year medical students, interns, residents, and other healthcare professionals who are learning to do subclavian lines.

View Customer Reviews on iTunes »

Download Now on iTunes for $2.99 »

Visit the App Website »

Related Posts:

1. Procedures – Hospital Collection App: 15 Procedures Taught With Extensive Multimedia [App Review and Comparison]
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]

Modality develops a few different types of USMLE Q-Banks for the iPhone. They have a nice You-tube video where you can see these Q-banks in action. If you want an in depth review of the Lange Q-banks Modality has to offer check out our review from earlier in the week.

Related Posts:

1. Lange Q&A USMLE Step 2 CK Question Bank [App Review]
2. USMLE Step 1 iBank App: Lowest Cost Question Bank for the iPhone [App Review]
3. USMLE Buzz Flash Cards App Aims to Help You With USMLE Step 1 Studying [App Review]

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

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

For Step 2 studying on my computer, I found the USMLE World question bank to be the most helpful. I’ve tried the Kaplan and USMLE World question banks together for step 1, but realized USMLE World did a better job covering high yield information. Also, USMLE World’s user interface mimics what you see on the actual test day, unlike the other question banks. I always dreamed USMLE World would make an iPhone app and I could always have my question bank within the reach of my fingers. Unfortunately, this dream didn’t come true. But never fear, coming in to the rescue is the Lange Q&A Step 2 CK question bank for you iPhone, costing $33.99(discounted until October 31st)

When you open up this app you are prompted to register with Modality. You don’t have to register, and this sign eventually goes away. If you closed the app by accident while taking a quiz, when you startup the app, you’re prompted to resume from where you left off. There are 4 main navigation tools on the homepage. New Quiz, Saved Quizzes, Question Browser, Cumulative Stats.

There are a total of 1,104 questions in this apps question bank. You can create a quiz from the 8 practice tests provided (46 questions each) or you can customize a quiz. In the custom quiz section you can choose to include or exclude the different specialties, Internal Medicine, OB/GYN, Pediatrics, Preventive Medicine, Psychiatry, Surgery. You can also change the number of questions your quiz will have, with a maximum of 50. You have the option to change the name of the quiz and once the quiz starts, a timer appears in the right upper corner.

Answering questions is pretty straight forward, you just select your answer choice, and there are easily marked navigation buttons. If you run out of time in quiz mode the app doesn’t make you stop, instead, the timer turns red telling you how much extra time you are using. If you leave a quiz in the middle or pause it, you can always come back and pick right up from where you left off, preserving the question number and time remaining.

The other main navigation option is “Question Browser”. This mode is analogous to the “study mode” option that is offered by computer based question banks. You can either view all questions, choose to view questions based on category, or view all the questions you’ve bookmarked. Within these views, you can organize the resulting questions by number, percentage correct/incorrect, or you can shuffle them. When reviewing the questions in this mode or quiz mode, clicking the rationale button allows you to see the explanations. You can also select the stats button to see how well you’ve been doing overall on that particular question, and the last time you attempted the question.

Question Quality:

Now to the most important part, the quality of the 1,104 questions. Overall, I’d have to say the questions do a pretty good job of being high yield in terms of the medical knowledge covered. Looking at the questions, I easily found topics that were definitely on my Step 2 test. When it comes to accurately portraying the style of writing you’ll find on step 2, I think this app did a decent job, not a great job. I still think USMLE World and Kaplan do a better job overall when it comes to emulating a USMLE question, but then again, they don’t have their Qbanks on the iPhone. That said, the material covered in the questions and the explanations is definitely high yield and you’ll get a lot of good learning out of these questions.

What I liked:

• High Yield topics covered with solid questions and explanations.
• Overall great user interface.
• If you accidentally closed the app during a quiz, app will give you the option to start where you left off.
• Nice use of pictures within the questions. Pictures will expand once clicked on.
• Timer in quiz mode.
• Cumulative performance broken down by sections.
• Ability to bookmark.

What I didn’t like:

• In some questions, text is too small (when answering questions that are in a 2 or 3 part series). In these types of questions, the explanation is the same and answers all parts of the question, instead of being unique to each question.
• No option to view lab values
• No landscape mode, and cannot zoom in or out.
• Although most of the questions are categorized, the questions for practice tests 1-8 are not categorized based on specialty.

Improvements that could be made:

• Ability to sync more questions
• An option to increase the text size, or zoom in and out.
• Option to cross out answer choices.
• Option to highlight parts of a question or parts of the explanation.
• Ability to add custom notes to the questions.

Conclusion:

So overall, my opinion of medical educational products by Lange hasn’t changed too much, I’m still a fan. I found the question bank to be high yield, but the questions were not written as well as USMLE World or Kaplan. My biggest complaint has to be the small text size experienced in some of the questions, it would be great to have the option to customize the size of the font.

It should be noted that this app isn’t a substitute for a larger traditional computer based Q bank, such as Kaplan, USMLE World, or Exam Masters. You should definitely still use those question banks as your primary source of study. They have more questions and are written very well. That said, this is still a good USMLE step 2 study app.

The best way to use this app is to supplement the Q-bank you already have. Whether you’re riding the bus, subway, or waiting in line, you can always be studying for Step 2. The user interface is designed well enough to where you can do bursts of studying, and pick up right where you left off with ease. At the end of the day, I wish I would have had this app while I was studying for step 2. Plus, at $33.99(discounted until October 31st), it’s a good buy when you take into account the number of questions you get verse one of the traditional computer Q banks, except the Lange Q bank app will always be at your fingertips and in the palm of your hands. This type of portability for step 2 questions is much needed and sorely lacking.

View Customer Reviews on iTunes »

Download Now on iTunes for $44.99 »

Visit the App Website »

Related Posts:

1. USMLE Step 1 iBank App: Lowest Cost Question Bank for the iPhone [App Review]
2. USMLE Buzz Flash Cards App Aims to Help You With USMLE Step 1 Studying [App Review]
3. Modality’s You-Tube Video of Their USMLE Question Banks Apps

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

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

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

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

The author of eRoentgen, Constantine Brocoum, MD was a neuroradiologist by training and surely had first-hand knowledge of the challenge. The application is a straightforward compendium of textual information that lists recommended imaging studies for each item from a voluminous list of symptoms and diagnoses. The main drawback of the application is the high price of $49.99, which seems out of line with comparable medical iPhone applications.

What I liked about this application:

• the breadth of symptoms and diagnoses is impressive
• the relative and absolute contraindications for each imaging modality are provided so that incompatible tests can be avoided
• the additional information on pre-medication for patients with allergies is appreciated

What I did not like about this application:

• the navigation between diagnosis, test contraindications and recommended tests is a bit awkward
• the price is set too high

What I would like to see in future updates:

• perhaps rather than providing such a breadth of symptoms, a deeper explanation of expected normal and abnormal imaging findings for some important diagnoses would provide more clinical value
• some indication of the order in which to order tests, rather than a simple list

Conclusion:

The eRoentgen application achieves its stated goal of guiding physicians in ordering imaging studies and will probably spare the busy clinician a few phone calls to radiologists. However, whiles the author identified an important problem, I feel that the application does not always live up to its own promise. Perhaps with the addition of some deeper clinical knowledge, it may better serve as quick and effective radiology pretest consult.

Addendum from iMedicalApps Team:

We completely agreed with Dr. Wodajo’s excellent review of this medical application. Just wanted to add that we ran this app by residents and fellows, including a rad/onc fellow, and for the most part they agreed with the points made in this review. The biggest complaint we received was the high asking price for a relatively simple application. This is the most expensive app reviewed on this site, yet it will not make our top medical app lists. Many of the residents also mentioned how the EMR systems in hospitals and the clinic already point out the contraindications and indications for much of the imaging. One of the main reasons we reviewed this app is because it got a lot of sponsored publicity, and we wanted to make sure our readers had an objective review to go by.

View Customer Reviews on iTunes »

Download Now on iTunes for $19.99 »

Visit the App Website »

Related Posts:

1. Radiation Passport helps physicians and patients determine cancer risk and cumulative radiation exposure in diagnostic imaging [App Review]
2. Procedures – Subclavian Line App Helps Teach You Key Procedure [App Review]
3. Joslin Chest Atlas App Helps You Learn Your Chest Films [App Review]

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

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

Related Posts:

1. Merck Manual Home Edition Aims to Help Patients Communicate More Efficiently With Physicians [App Review]
2. The Merck Manual Professional Edition Medical App is the First Encyclopedia of Medicine that Fits in Your Pocket [App Review]
3. Procedures – Hospital Collection App: 15 Procedures Taught With Extensive Multimedia [App Review and Comparison]

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

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

Procedures Consult is actually a product from Elsevier, a publisher of medical and scientific literature. This app is derived from the site, Procedures Consult, where the same type of information you find there can be found in the app. On the website you can access more procedures than the procedures consult-internal medicine app. In order to access their website there is a fee. I called the company to ask them their rates since they are vague on their website and I’ll update this post when I get a call back. However, the price of the iPhone application is $40, and it’s a one time cost.

Now, back to the medical application itself. When you open up the application you can search, bookmark, or view all the different procedures at once or by type. There are 25 procedures available to view, ranging in varying levels of complexity. You can learn how to perform an arterial blood gas sampling procedure to more complex procedures such as performing an LP, thoracentesis, or abdominal paracentesis.

In this review I’m going to use the thoracentesis procedure as an example to show the functionality of this app. The thoracentesis procedure is found under the “aspiration” category. Once you select thoracentesis you are brought to a page with the Pre-Procedure information, along with many different options. On this page you have options to view the Procedure text/pictures, Post-Procedure text/pictures, make a bookmark, increase the size of the text, and most importantly, view a video of the procedure being done.

The Pre-Procedure page includes a great deal of information including indications, contraindications, equipment, and anatomy. Along with this great text information, you’re given excellent pictures to view as well. This type of format is repeated in the Procedure and Post-Procedure pages as well. The text and pictures on the Pre-Procedure, Procedure, and Post-Procedure pages are very handy when you’re not in a setting to view the videos or if you want to brush up on certain parts of the procedure quickly.

Video:

The video section is fantastically done(the last three pictures are of the video). Once you choose the video option, you are brought to a page with an option to view different parts of the procedure(refer to pictures). This is great because it takes out the need to fast-foward and rewind constantly. A moderator talks you through the whole procedure. Procedures Consult has done an excellent job in mixing graphic images with actual images. This useful when showing anatomy graphics so one is able to better understand the procedure. The videos also have moments where you are shown “clinical pearls” and given information about a key step in the procedure. Once you’re done with one section of the procedure, the application automatically goes on to the next video, but gives you five seconds to cancel this continuation.

Each section on the video page is about one to two minutes in length. The thoracentesis videos total to about eight minutes. The videos themselves are concise, informative, and have a nice pace. They even walk you through getting consent from the patient and the key risks to talk about. The post-procedural video clips are nice as well. The thoracentesis post-procedural video clip even tells you how to submit the pleural fluid to the lab.(i.e. EDTA tube is submitted for cell count and differential). In the wards, I’ve definitely been scrambling around with residents trying to make sure we have the correct tubes being sent off for the right information. The videos make this application absolutely shine.

Unlike other applications we have reviewed in the past, such as the Blausen Human Atlas and Clinical Orthopedic Exam, the Procedures Consult app has stand alone videos. I can’t stress this enough. The overall consensus among our group of reviewers is that stand alone videos are key because not everyone has Internet access available at all times. In the hospital my Internet access varies from good to bad. Since this could be considered a “study” application, having the videos available to you without the need of an internet connection is invaluable. You could even be sitting in a plane viewing videos of procedures, although the person sitting next to you might get a bit queasy. Having the videos built into the app takes up a massive amount of space, almost half a gig, but it’s well worth it.

What I liked about this app:

• Stand alone application, no Internet connection required.
• Procedures are explained in a concise and clear manner.
• Procedure pages do a great job of providing informative text mixed in with pictures.
• Videos are fantastic and replicate the feeling of actually watching a procedure, yet also provide great graphics to help explain the procedure.
• Starts with the page you last visited.
• Bookmarking
• Option to increase/decrease text size.

What I didn’t like and Improvements that could be made:

• An option to delete procedures not used in order to save space on your iPhone or iPod touch. Some of the procedures, such as ABGs or Phlebotomy won’t be accessed too much, and you could save some space by deleting them.
• Greater explanation of why the procedure is being done and the pathophysiology leading to the need of the procedure. (i.e. pathophysiology behind pleural fluid collection)
• When fast forwarding and rewinding the videos very quickly I found some lag time and had the application crash. Overall though, the application is stable and I rarely had any issues.

Who this app would be great for:

Residents, Interns, 4th year medical students, and others in the healthcare field who want an aid to help learn procedures quicker. It’s also for those who want to look like all-stars in front of their upper levels and attendings (paging all gunners….).

Conclusion:

As you can read from the above, the Procedures Consult-Internal Medicine app, developed by Modality, was a hit. When I showed this app to other medical students, interns, residents, and fellows they were stunned. The overall feeling was this app would help you learn procedures more quickly and decrease some of the anxiety that comes with doing the more complex procedures. The Procedures Consult app definitely does not replace the invaluable learning that occurs with the hands on practice of physically doing the procedure, but it definitely helps you learn the procedure quicker and become more efficient.

When I asked colleagues about the price of the app($40) they didn’t think it was cheap, but they didn’t think it was overpriced either. Some of the more experienced fellows didn’t think the app would be as useful for them, but all the 4th years, interns, and residents loved it.

It should also be noted this application can improve patient safety, for obvious reasons. Residency programs really need to take note of this application. Having the ability to view videos, pictures, and text of a particular procedure on your mobile device right before you need to perform the procedure is fantastic.

I urge those who are considering buying this app to check out the Procedures Consult website. The iPhone and iPod touch application version is basically like having the website in the palm of your hand, but without the need of an internet connection. The Procedures Consult website allows you to try the online version free of Procedures Consult for 30 days. The sample videos on the website correlate closely to the videos you’ll see in this application. They show samples of the text and pictures that correlate closely to the app as well. For $40 flat, you can have 25 internal medicine procedures, with text, pictures, and videos, in the palm of your hand to use at your viewing pleasure.

With this app you’ll be on your way to looking like an all-star in the wards and thats something we’d definitely recommend. For interns and residents, this is a must have application.

View Customer Reviews on iTunes »

Download Now on iTunes for $39.99 »

Visit the App Website »

The Procedures Consult website can be found here.

Note: This app was reviewed in consultation with interns, and residents.

Related Posts:

1. Procedures Consult – Musculoskeletal App Superbly Demonstrates Common Bedside Orthopedic Techniques [App Review]
2. Procedures – Subclavian Line App Helps Teach You Key Procedure [App Review]
3. Procedures – Hospital Collection App: 15 Procedures Taught With Extensive Multimedia [App Review and Comparison]

To our readers-

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

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

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

-iMedical Apps Team

Related Posts:

1. Site News
2. Guest Contributors to the Medical App Review Site
3. Should Medical Professionals Get an iPhone or an iPod Touch?