Clinical Cases usually describe a particular medical case with the background of the patient and clues that the treating physician detected while working on it. They act as instructive examples to people who might encounter similar problems.

These discussions on the investigations undertaken to determine a diagnosis or differentiate between possible diagnoses are a useful part of every physician’s medical education, both during training and on a continuing basis.

Doctors who Teach is a team of Doctors, Coders and Designers that developed MedEngage, a medical app with a journal feel to present clinical cases and other information in a problem based approach.

MedEngage has a very friendly user interface that makes reading the cases a pleasant experience. The main screen has four tabs Home, Publish, Pearls and Editors. Scrolling through the Home tab displays the different cases, updates and multiple choice questions available while the Publish tab allows individuals to submit their own cases.

Allegedly, tapping on a plus sign icon while reading a case bookmarks it and it appears listed in the Pearls tab. However, no matter how much we looked for it we were unable to find said icon anywhere on the user interface. It seems this feature isn’t fully implemented yet. At the moment, MedEngage showcases a small number of items. The app’s content is curated through crowdsourcing. A team of over 120 editorial members independently oversee selection, approval, peer review and publication of the clinical cases.

According to MedEngage’s site and app, each case is chosen based on five criteria:

  1. The case presents a diagnostic, ethical or management challenge
  2. The case highlights aspects of mechanisms of injury, pharmacology or histopathology that are deemed of particular educational value
  3. At least 30% of cases are common clinical scenarios
  4. The case was managed based on the latest evidence based guidelines
  5. Comprehensively evaluated cases with no open or missing links

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Evidence and literature used to support app

  • Currently, clinical cases and updates contain references to literature; however, being a crowdsourced project this may vary.

Price

  • Free

Likes

  • Easy to understand interface
  • Crowdsourced medical cases
  • Good clinical cases

Dislikes

  • Broken Pearls feature (bookmarking)
  • Very small selection of content at the moment of review (less than 10 items)

Healthcare providers that would benefit from the app

  • Medical students and physicians in general

Conclusion

  • Keeping in mind the problem based approach and its crowdsourced nature, MedEngage is an interesting concept for physicians to learn and stay up to date. The medical app in general is very nice and the contents are good.
  • The only major drawback is the small selection of clinical cases available at this time. As time goes by and MedEngage gathers enough content, it will surely be a great asset to physicians.

Google Play Link

Type of device used to review app – Moto X
App version – 1.0

Rating: (1 to 5 stars): 3/5

  • User interface – 4. Very nice and friendly.
  • Multimedia usage – 3. Images are useful.
  • Price – 3. Free is good.
  • Real world applicability – 3. As the app fills with content it will become more useful.