There are multiple sites on the internet providing medical notes for medical students and junior professionals. One popular site in the UK is almostadoctor.com.
This site provides free lecture notes and course materials for a wide range of topics in the form of traditional notes, mind maps, flashcards, blogs and more. They recently released a free iPhone app which has had over 5,000 downloads in the two weeks since it was released.
The almostadoctor app launches to an attractive home page with each specialty depicted by a different icon.
Selecting a topic leads to a list of subtopics composed of the major pathologies and issues encountered in that particular area. The articles themselves are well written, informative and useful to quickly look up when on the wards.
It is worth noting that there is no specific evidence or reference base provided for each article, rather there is only an about page which list’s the general texts/sources that may have been used to compile each article. Many articles include a date last updated which is helpful to see how timely the information provided is.
Another useful feature is that all of the content is stored on the app locally which is a major advantage when used in hospitals that lack connectivity.
Almostadoctor also searches for new content from the website on a weekly basis and automatically downloads any updates or new articles. There are a range of options to export articles which include Twitter, Facebook or email.
One drawback that I commonly encountered was the lack of images/pictures/tables in the articles. There were a few images included, although I felt these did not always reflect the high quality of the accompanying writing. These would be especially helpful when discussing the clinical skills cases. Another addition that would drastically improve the ease of use would be the addition of hyperlinks between different sections.
There is a search function included within the app which is useful if you want to find a broad topic. The search function does not search the content of each article itself, which was frustrating at times as I could not find what I was looking for. Hopefully, a future update will include an updated search function.
Price:
- Free
Likes:
- Wide range of content and topics
- Content saved locally so no need for internet connectivity
Dislikes:
- Lack of evidence base
- Not many images
- Limited search function
- Future update may add hyperlinks to improve ease of use
Overall Rating:
- almostadoctor is a great free resource for medical students and junior doctors who want a handy app
- The quality of the content is good although care should be taken as there is not a specific evidence base
- Overall this app is a useful resource and a worthwhile addition to medical students’ iPhones
