Purpose of App Review
How well does the FracturED app teach Emergency Medicine resident physicians about hand and wrist fractures?
Introduction
FracturED is an iPad app directed at Emergency Medicine physicians focused on the evaluation and treatment of common orthopedic injuries.
Module One covers the hand and wrist. The app was created and designed by Steven Warrington, an Emergency Medicine resident in Akron, Ohio.
User Interface
The app starts with a review of basic anatomy and a comprehensive exam of the hand and wrist.
The content is then organized into twenty cases. Each case starts with a short description of the presenting complaint, an image of either a radiograph or an element of the physical exam, and a few pertinent questions about diagnosis and treatment.
The discussion section reviews the diagnosis, relevant clinical pearls, and a summary of the appropriate ED course for the patient.
Review questions are available through an outside website by emailing the app developer, but are not yet integrated into the app. In future editions, the developers promise reformatted images, integrated questions, and more modules on the upper and lower extremities.
Price:
- $0.99
Likes
- Comprehensive, high yield clinical content.
- Well integrated multimedia.
Dislikes
- Many images are distorted.
- Discussion section is text heavy and does not integrate multimedia.
- Quiz questions only available on a separate website.
Healthcare providers that would benefit from the app
- Residents, physicians, medical students, and physician assistants working in Emergency Medicine.
Conclusions
- FracturED is an excellent review of high yield clinical content about emergent management of orthopedic injuries to the hand and wrist. As an app, it still has several bugs to work out with distorted images and separate quiz questions. Many of these issues could be easily addressed by transitioning to an interactive iBooks format, a modality that we’ve reviewed before on iMedicalApps. The developers are clearly committed to improving the app, and I look forward to seeing future versions.
- As an Emergency Medicine resident, I hope to see more educational content like this that integrates multimedia and review questions. This is my ideal way to learn: I feel engaged and often remember the information much better than I do when reading a traditional textbook. New software like iBooks Author will allow more physicians to write similar modules without requiring any background in computer programming.
iMedicalApps recommended?
- Yes
Rating: 4.25/5
- User interface – 4 – Relatively easy to navigate, but organization as a list of numbered cases makes it difficult to find a specific topic again.
- Multimedia usage – 4 – Extensive use of multimedia, though sometimes images are distorted, and discussion sections do not contain images.
- Price – 5 – $0.99 – Economical considering how extensive the content is.
- Real world applicability – 4 – Not something I’d use daily, but this is a focused, high yield resource on an important topic in Emergency Medicine.
Disclaimer:
This post does not establish, nor is it intended to establish, a patient physician relationship with anyone. It does not substitute for professional advice, and does not substitute for an in-person evaluation with your health care provider. It does not provide the definitive statement on the subject addressed. Before using these apps please consult with your own physician or health care provider as to the apps validity and accuracy as this post is not intended to affirm the validity or accuracy of the apps in question. The app(s) mentioned in this post should not be used without discussing the app first with your health care provider.
