by: Antonio DeRosa, MLIS
The Medical Wizards Library (MWL) app acts as a personalized library for emergency medicine clinicians and physicians.
You can purchase ebooks, point of care tools, and other reference materials and save them to this app for easy access. This allows for cross-referencing and quick navigation of your designated medical resources on the spot.
So, how does it function?
Upon first downloading Medical Wizards Library (MWL), you are going to want to add the extended preview of the EM Suite module to your library (the app prompts you to do so upon opening).
If for nothing else, this app is good for the EM Suite preview. Here is where you will find some useful reference information (for free) such as calculators, immunizations, and toxicology data. It’s also possible to make personal notes within certain fields of the EM Suite for later reference.
The preview version of EM Suite is perfect for the on-the-go emergency department professional, though it’s not all-encompassing as it’s only a preview. The full version can be purchased and added to your MWL if desired. Unlike some other previews of resources, EM Suite on the MWL platform exposes you to enough of its features to feel comfortable before committing to a purchase.
(EM Suite extended preview)
Purchasing other reference materials (or add-ons) to add to your library is quick and easy, though frustratingly, the MWL does not allow for institutional subscribers to access content through the app.
This is a major downfall on the developer’s part since many clinicians do not personally subscribe to all the publications they use on the job. An institution’s library usually takes the lead on handling licensing agreements with journals, point of care tools, and ebook service providers. It would be nice if MWL allowed users to input institutional credentials for a given title for quick addition to their library.
( An example of not having the option to enter institutional subscription information for access to the Merck Manual in the MWL.)
Finding add-ons to include in your MWL is simple and intuitive, though it could be more robust. It’s possible to browse all possible add-ons (the All Titles field) or search by category. These include dictionary-language resources, drug guides, nursing titles, and pharmacy titles, to name a few.
However, the most you can do is browse by title in the full list or the specialty lists provided; there is no search function. So, knowing the name of a specific resource to add to your MWL is not very helpful as you would need to locate it on one of the lists provided.
(View of the Add-Ons list. Notice the lack of a search field or other sort option.)
Price:
- Free
Likes:
- Ability to customize library with resources that are useful for your everyday needs
- EM Suite extended preview contains helpful information and eliminates time spent on tedious calculations
- Ability to take notes within EM Suite modules for personal reference
- Cross-referencing between resources all in one place
Dislikes:
- Inability to use institutional subscriptions when adding resources to library
- The browse-only way of searching in the Add-Ons menu is not sufficient; would like to see a search box in future updates
Conclusion:
- The MWL app for Android proves to be a sufficient resource for emergency department clinicians
- The customizable interface makes it easy to choose what you want to see; eliminating extraneous material you might find in some other general emergency department-related apps
- The EM Suite preview is worth checking out as it contains a variety of helpful emergency-geared tools
- The user reviews of MWL mostly agree that this app can save the emergency department clinician both time and effort when faced with on-the-spot decisions
- There are some reviews claiming that the app force closes or doesn’t function well on certain Android devices. This should also be taken into account when looking to download the MWL app.
