Pocket Body iPad Anatomy app helps improve anatomical understanding

Tom Lewis | Editor — Mon, 20 Jun 2011 11:00:51 +0000

According to iTunes: “Award winning Pocket Body features a fully anatomically accurate human character with nine layers of musculoskeletal and neurovascular content…plus over 30,000 words of learning material.”

Pocket Body [Musculoskeletal] demonstrates the full range of capabilities of the iPad. This medical app has recently undergone a major update. It now includes information on nerves, arteries and veins as well as an improved lateral view.

Read after the break to see why it’s become one of our favorite anatomy apps.

The human character is superbly detailed and the ability to select different layers helps the user to understand the complex anatomy of the human body. Whilst many other anatomy applications provide information regarding the bones and muscles, Pocket Body additionally provides detailed information on the ligaments, tendons, bursae and their clinical implications.

The application allows the user to add their own pins to the body and edit notes of the pins. This ensures that the application is a very useful learning resource for anybody studying anatomy at any academic level. The useful search function allows users to easily find a particular pin; even pins added by the user can be found.

The application also contains three different ways of quizzing the user on their anatomical knowledge. The ‘Locate pins’ quiz asks the user to search and locate the named anatomical structure given to them. The ‘multiple choice’ quiz tests the user’s understanding of the 30,000 anatomical terms within the application. The ‘flash card’ quiz tests the user’s ability to understand and memorise the specific attributes of each labelled anatomical structure.
The consistently high level of detail in this application is ideal for medical students and young clinicians who are looking for an anatomy refresher. Furthermore, the clear, visual nature of the application is suited to clinicians who would like to show patients the exact anatomy of a problem region.

This is a consistently excellent application with few major drawbacks. One minor drawback is that sometimes there can be too many pins in a particular region, which can obscure the image. Another minor drawback is the limited ability of the application to zoom in on a particular region. To illustrate this problem, the region shown in the screenshot below is at the maximum zoom.

Likes:

Consistently high level of detail

Ease of use

The ability to add your own pins and additional clinical notes

Universal Application

Different types of quizzes

Dislikes:

Sometimes there are too many pins in a particular region

Limited ability to zoom

Price:

$29.99

Overall Rating:

Despite these minor drawbacks, this is still a fantastic application to use and highly recommended.

Pocket Body combines all the information required to learn key musculoskeletal gross anatomy of the human body whilst presenting the information in a functional and accessible manner.

iTunes link

Pocket Heart App: More Than Just a Good Looking Medical App [App Review]

Alex Drossos, MS3 — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 16:12:00 +0000

Get yourself a copy of Pocket Heart (iTunes price is $5.99) and you’ll immediately be impressed by this app. Yes, the graphics and animations will be what first grabs your attention, but you’ll soon find out in this review that Pocket Heart is truly a good learning tool for cardiac anatomy and physiology.

What I liked about this application:

This app is very well designed and I presume that the programming involved is also very elegant given the nature of the graphics.
It’s really quite comprehensive in terms of its cardiovascular information, though definitely is more concerned with breadth rather than depth (i.e. this isn’t going to be enough info about the heart for medical students’ cardiac anatomy or physiology).
I’m a very visual learner, so the ability to rotate, enlarge and move around the heart are great features! The added heart beat showing the direction of blood flow are also nice touches. But the added ability to turn all of these features on and off is even more thoughtful.
The Quiz section is actually pretty good for testing concepts and there is also good variety in terms of types of quizzes available.
The Video Tips (could also be called Help function) are a great little bonus.

What I did not like about this application:

Not much actually…you have to be a bit patient for a few seconds as the app loads and when switching from one section to another – that’s really as hard as I can be on this app in its current form, but do see the “what I would like to see in future updates” heading below for how I’d like to see the program improved.
I’m not sure that it would be that makes much of a difference, but one downside is that the program only works in Portrait mode, and therefore not in Landscape.

What I would like to see in future updates:

Addition of some basic cardiac pathology information would be helpful, primarily in the Heart Info section, with corresponding images of the major cardiovascular changes.
I’d like to see more of the vascular system (rather than just cardiac) in the Explore section of the app, for instance with the inclusion of models such as the pulmonary and portal circulations; I’d also love to see the ability to show a very basic model/outline of the lungs and perhaps other nearby organs to get a better sense of the regional anatomy
If the developers really want to be bold, adding some cardiac embryology to the app would be wonderful.

Who this App would be good for:

This app is great for medical students and other health professional students.
It is also good for anyone else who wants to learn more about the heart in an engaging and interactive way.

Conclusion:

I really liked this app, even though it is somewhat basic in terms of its information level. The graphics are great and the app is designed very well. As a supplementary learning tool for students in health profession schools or even baccalaureate programs in biology or physiology this app will be a welcome change to having your head stuck in a textbook.

Please note the following on upcoming updates, straight from the developer:

“We’ve just submitted version 1.1 to Apple…(decreased loading times, improved usability, more intuitive labels, and new logo!)

Next version will include more detailed modeling of the heart along with added exterior vessels.”

[itunes]

[website]

iMedicalApps » Pocket Anatomy

Pocket Body iPad Anatomy app helps improve anatomical understanding

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