App Review: Dermatology: Medical Student Edition

The latest in our series of app reviews is a guest post by MBBS student Michelle Warncke. If you are interested in reviewing an app or resources for the blog, please email us at: liaison@sgul.ac.uk                      

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Name: Dermatology: Medical Student Edition

Publisher: British Association of Dermatologists

Devices: Available on Android (version 2.2+) and Apple devices

Other requirements: Requires 10MB of memory.

Tested on:  Lenovo P2

Available from: Google Play and the App Store, although the iOS version is currently being re-coded.

Price: Free

For: Anyone who wants to prepare for their YSKTs, OSCEs, or simply to explore dermatology.

• Main Pros: Simple language, lots of pictures and a wide range of topics.
  
• Main Cons: There could be more practice questions with varied pictures.

Type of Information: Handy guides to clinical examinations, dermatology concepts, and different conditions. Exam preparation help with practice questions including how to describe lesions.

 

One of the most difficult points of dermatology is differentiating rashes and learning how to describe them. This app helps practice just that!

The dermatology app includes sections for learning and for examination preparation.

The learning section includes:

• Basic concepts: Anatomy and physiology.
• Essential clinical skills: How to take a dermatology history, how to do an OSCE style examination, and how to describe any lesions you might find.
• Practical skills: Patient education, written communication, prescribing skills, and clinical examination/investigations.
• Disease profiles: Emergencies, infections, cancers, common problems.
• Management: Topical and oral.

The exam section includes:

• Case scenarios
• Picture quizzes
• 113 randomized questions

This free app is very useful because of how simple and clear it is. Its folders are easy to navigate and ordered logically. The descriptions are relatively free of medical jargon, and any more difficult terms are accompanied by very indicative pictures. These pictures are used again in the practice questions. The rehearsal is helpful in making associations and has made even practice questions on other apps easier.  The British Association of Dermatologists designed this app for both medical students and junior doctors, and we can definitely see ourselves using it as a refresher on clinics or on the wards in our foundation years.

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Thanks again to Michelle Warncke for writing this review. Please note, all app reviews on this blog are subject to St George’s Library mobile resources disclaimer. Please take the time to read it carefully.

App Review: DynaMed Plus

Name: DynaMed Plus

Publisher: EBSCOhost

Devices: Any iPhone® or iPad® or iPod touch® running iOS 9.3

or higher. Any Android device running Android 4.4 or higher.
The app requires at least 500MB of memory.
Can be authenticated on up to 3 devices per activation link.

We’ve tested this app on an iPhone 6 and an iPad Air2.

Available from: iTunes App Store or Google Play

This app is available to NHS staff and SGUL staff and students.

*Details on how to download and authenticate the app are included at the end of the post.*

Price: Free to download

Type of information: Clinical decision making support tool.

For: doctors and other healthcare professionals at point of care, and healthcare students.

Main Pros: Similar in design, layout and functionality to the web-based version. Content available offline after initial download. Links to full-text supporting articles and guidelines within topic summaries where available.

Main Cons: Requires around 1GB of storage space depending on device. Link to calculators not available on home screen of the app, unlike the web-based version, requires a separate search to access them.

An in-depth look

The DynaMed Plus app is the app version of a point of care resource that St George’s Library subscribes to. It provides access to over 3,400 clinical summaries covering a broad range of specialties and is designed to support healthcare professionals in clinical decision making. It covers the same content as found on the web-based version of DynaMed Plus, with the added benefit of being accessible offline. However, the content can require a fair amount of storage space on your device. The publishers recommend to have a minimum of 500MB free, but in our testing we’ve found the App has required around 906 MB on iPad Air 2 and 1.16GB on an iPhone 6. Presumably this will likely increase as more content is added and updated over time.

In terms of functionality the app is really simple to use and fairly intuitive – it is almost identical in layout and design to the web-based version which presents a nice continuity of usage. The home screen presents you with a search bar and in the top-right hand corner you’ll find a Bookmark icon which houses your previously saved pages, and search history. There is also a settings icon that allows you to change the text size, check for updates to the app and search the help pages, which does require an internet connection.

The search function has an intelligent auto-suggest feature, which will show you your results in the form of topics and searches that match your terms as you type. You can then either review the topic summary directly, or view the search terms instead. Once you are viewing a topic you can scroll through the entire summary as you would a web page, or you can browse by section. How you do this depends on how you are holding your device. In landscape view the section headings can be found on the left of the summary, allowing the user to dip in and out of the topic sections. Holding the device in portrait forces the section headings into a separate bar at the top – you can navigate these by selecting the magnifying glass icon that will appear on the top right of the screen, next to the topic summary heading. There are also other icons in the bottom right of the page that allow you to bookmark the summary, email or print the topic, or make notes if required. If you do any notes to the summary, the empty notepad icon will fill with lines to indicate you have done so.

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Many of the topic summaries provide external links to webpages and supporting articles which will display the article abstract or full-text article if available through an institutional subscription (OpenAthens or St George’s, University of London). Again, despite the app content being available offline you will need to be connected to the internet to access anything linked outside of the app.

Despite being very easy to use, some of the resource’s most useful features are buried within the app somewhat, which is unfortunate. The calculators and decision trees have a direct link in the title bar of the web-version, but no counterpart within the app. They can be found by searching for them, which isn’t as user friendly as a link or icon. This can also be said for the thousands of supporting images the resource has – they can be found and browsed in your search matches, but we felt that embedding them in their own section within the topic summary would make them much more identifiable.

Available to SGUL staff and students

PDF for how to download DynaMed Plus App for SGUL staff and students

Available to NHS Staff

How to download and authenticate the DynaMed Plus app for NHS Staff:

1. Access DynaMed Plus via NHS OpenAthens or the Hospital intranet page

2. Click on the Mobile use – Get the DynaMed Mobile App link under Spotlight.

3. Enter your email address and click send.

4. An authentication link is emailed to you.

5. Open the email from your device and follow the links to download the app via the iTunes Store or Google Play.

6. When prompted, authenticate the app via the OpenAthens link- look for the Athens link at the bottom of the authentication page.

Note: If you do not tap the authentication link in the email within 48 hours you will need to request a new authentication key from within DynaMed Plus.

7. The DynaMed Plus App opens on your device and begins the initial content download.

Note: It is recommended that you are on a Wi-Fi connection for the initial download of DynaMed Plus content as well as when updates become available. Initial download can take up between 10-30 minutes.

Getting more help

DynaMed Plus have produced this useful video to get you started with DynaMed Plus.

If you need support with your OpenAthens account please contact Stephen Reid sreid@sgul.ac.uk

NHS Staff who are eligible for an OpenAthens account can register here: https://openathens.nice.org.uk/

For training or if you have any questions about access to DynaMed Plus please contact liaison@sgul.ac.uk

 

 

App Review: BMJ Best Practice

Name: BMJ Best Practice

Publisher: BMJ Publishing Group

Devices: Smartphones and tablets with Android OS 4.2 or later and iPhones and iPads with iOS version 7.0 or later. We tested this app on an iPad.

Available from: iTunes App Store or Google Play.

Price: Free.

Available to SGUL students and staff only. Details on how to access the full content are included at the end of the post.

Type of information: Point of care, clinical decision making support tool.

For: UK healthcare professionals and healthcare students.

Main Pros: This new version of the app (released in 2017) requires substantially less storage on your device. Content is available offline after the initial download so it can be accessed at any time. Condition summaries contain links to relevant guidelines and papers. Daily content updates and the CME/CPD tracker can help keep you up-to-date in your chosen specialty.

Main Cons: A personal subscription is necessary for those without institutional access. Savings in storage capacity have been made by not including images in the downloaded data – they are now only available when using the app online. Initial search function was quite basic, but this has been addressed in a recent update.

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BMJ Best Practice provides access to reliable information and guidance on hundreds of medical conditions that can be used to support you in clinical decision-making. This companion app to the web version of BMJ Best Practice is designed to be used on the move and after an initial download, content can be accessed when offline, which is particularly convenient if you are unable to connect to Wi-Fi.

This new version of the app will be familiar to anyone who has used it before, with the majority of changes being cosmetic and offering a cleaner, more responsive experience. New users should find the app intuitive and easy to navigate. The home screen offers a simple layout with a central search bar, and the icons at the bottom of the screen allow you to browse by speciality; browse the available calculators or quickly locate information you have recently or commonly referred to.

Condition summaries are broken down into sections and subsections, such as ‘Diagnosis’, ‘Treatment’ and ‘Management’ or you can use the ‘Highlights’ section for a quick summary and overview. This highlights section will also link to related conditions, or to clinical guidelines where appropriate. Each topic has a ‘Last Updated’ date underneath the heading so you can be sure the information is current and you can browse through all of the sections by swiping from right to left, or by using the back button to choose a different section. This is especially helpful in longer, more complex entries.

Where necessary, summaries will contain links to relevant guidelines, resources and articles which will then open in your device’s browser when connected to the internet. You can explore these as you read, or refer to the ‘Resources’ section for the full reference list. Links to the full-text of an article will also appear if the article or study features in a journal that the Library subscribes to.

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Download Instructions (for SGUL staff and students)

[PDF instructions available here]

1. Create a ‘My Best Practice’ personal account on the BMJ Best Practice website (http://bestpractice.bmj.com/) whilst onsite at SGUL, using a computer in the Library Computer Rooms, a Library laptop or a device connected to the St. George’s eduroam WiFi network; or offsite, after logging in via Shibboleth.
   Remember the email address and password used to create the account.
2. Download the app from the iTunes app store (iOS) or Google Play (Android).
3. Launch the app. When asked to log in, use the same email address and password you used to create your My Best Practice account.
   
4. The app content will automatically begin to download. It will take about 5 minutes on a good WiFi connection.

Remember!!
Your subscription must be renewed every six months by logging into your My Best Practice personal account on the BMJ Best Practice website http://bestpractice.bmj.com/ while onsite using a computer in the Library Computer Rooms, a Library laptop or a device connected to the St George’s eduroam WiFi network; or offsite, after logging in via Shibboleth.

If you experience any difficulties in downloading the app, or need any assistance in using it, email us at liaison@sgul.ac.uk

All review of mobile resources are subject to the St George’s Library Disclaimer, please take the time to read it carefully.

SGUL Staff are invited to attend our first SGUL App Swap event on 4 Feb 12.30 – 1.30pm

We invite staff at St George’s to participate in the first ever SGUL App Swap – an informal event for colleagues to get together to share apps, ideas and experiences.

Confirmed apps presenters include: Carwyn Hooper, Judith Ibison and Jonathan Round.

 

Time:  Wednesday 4 February 12.30 – 1.30pm
Location: Jenner Basement 11+ 12 Teaching

Bring your own mobile device and share an app that you use or like. Tea, coffee and sandwiches will be provided after the event.

SGUL App Swap is hosted by the Library and the e-Learning Unit (eLU). To register for the event or to find out more, please contact: kpang@sgul.ac.uk
[Limited to 15 places]

Visit our Mobile Resources Blog to see our reviews of mobile apps and resources.

SGUL App Swap is inspired by App Swap events run by the University of Brighton

BMJ Best Practice App – now available for Android

BMJ have released the Best Practice App on Android

To download as an Android app, click here.

If you want to download iOS (Apple) app, click here.

*Please note full content via the Best Practice app is only available to SGUL staff and students.

The BMJ Best Practice app provides access to:

• Over 1,000 diagnoses and diagnostic tests
• Clinical guidelines and research evidence, even when offline
• Expert opinion to back up your decisions
• Topics structured around the patient consultation, including prevention, diagnosis and treatment, with clear references and images
• Personalisation features including options to add notes and bookmarks

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The BMJ have changed the login page for the Best Practice App where it now asks for an ‘Institutional No’. This is an alternative way to log in which St George’s, University of London does not use. Please ignore this and log in to the app using your username and password as usual.

 

BMJ Best Practice App Update

The BMJ have changed the login page for the Best Practice App where it now asks for an ‘Institutional No’. This is an alternative way to log in which St George’s, University of London does not use. Please ignore this and log in to the app using your username and password as usual.

BMJ Best Practice app is available for  iPhone, iPods and iPads.

For more information about the app  please see our Feature review on the Mobile resources blog