Quick Look: NICE Guidance

*Update – 8th November 2018*

The NICE guidance app is now in the process of being phased out, with a view to it being withdrawn by the 31st December 2018. More information from NICE can be found here.

Name: NICE Guidance

Publisher: National Institute for Health and Care Excellence

Devices:
Android: requires Android 4.0 and up.
iPhone/iPad: iOS 6.0 or later. App size: 5.8MB
*We tested this on an iPad*

Available from:      Google Play , iTunes and Windows

Price: Free

Type of information:  The app provides mobile access to NICE guidelines for healthcare professionals and students. The evidence-based guidelines offer current pathways for the diagnoses, prognosis and treatment of many health problems. There are hundreds of conditions and diseases covered, as well as different public health topics.

Main pros: 

• Easy to use
• Clean interface
• Official guidelines from NICE
• Handy mobile tool

Main cons:  

• Text heavy
• Limited personalisation features

The updated NICE Guidance app from the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence offers on-the-move guidance for healthcare professionals and students. With over 760 topics and guidelines, as well as thousands of individual chapters, the app is text heavy. However, the in-app search box makes it easy to extract information quickly. The app also allows users to browse by topic and by guideline type.

The app is available through NICE and provides access to official NICE evidence-based guidelines which are used to keep health and social care professionals up-to-date on pathways in diagnosing and treating health problems. The information within the app is of a high-quality. Sections include clinical guidelines, cancer service guidelines and public health guidelines. One of the most beneficial features is the new and updated guidance section. New guidelines will automatically update on your device to keep you informed of any developments within healthcare guidelines.

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The app’s interface is uncluttered and easily navigable. You can also personalise the app, although these features are limited. Individual chapters can be bookmarked for use offline, which is useful for keeping track of specialist areas of interest. However, the text cannot be highlighted or annotated.

This app is a good aid for speedy and accurate guidance for the busy healthcare worker, but don’t expect more than what it says on the tin. Overall, the app is intuitive and easy to use and could be a handy mobile tool to have in your pocket!

All posts on this blog are subject to the St George’s Library Disclaimer, please take the time to read it carefully.

Updated: Aug 2017

 

Quick Look: Medscape App

Name:  Medscape App

Publisher: WebMD

Devices: iOS 9.0 or later. Android 4.0.3 and up.   Sive 28.7MB

Available from: Apple’s App Store  and Google Play

Price: Free

Type of information:
This app is designed to support clinicians with all of their professional needs, including decision-making support at the point-of-care, medical news and perspectives from thought leaders across medicine.

For: doctors, medical students, nurses and other healthcare professionals for clinical information.

• Main pros – Authored and reviewed by a team of 7,700 doctors and pharmacists from leading medical centres to ensure that all content is current, evidence-based, and written in a format designed to support physicians in practice.
• Main cons – Some information will be more applicable to American users than British users, so use with caution.

The Medscape app can be used to look up the most current drug prescribing and safety information.  It allows access to 129 medical calculators covering formulas, scales and classifications, and provides reviews of the latest information about 4400 diseases and conditions.  It also provides detailed written and video instructions for over 1000 clinical procedures.
The app allows you to search the Medline database for journal articles, and provides updates for the latest news impacting your speciality.
In addition, the app offers accredited Continuing Medical Education courses for professional development.

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All posts on this blog are subject to the St George’s Library Disclaimer, please take the time to read it carefully.

Updated: Sept 2017

Quick Look: The Genetics Counselling App (TGCA)

 

 

Name:  The Genetics Counselling App (TGCA)

Publisher: St George’s, University of London

Devices: iPad with iOS version 6.1 or later.

Other Requirements:  36.6mb memory.

Available from: Apple’s App Store

Price: £2.99

Type of information:
The app gives a visual explanation of chromosomes from the body to gene level. The app highlights the most common types of Mendelian inheritance through a number of animations which the user controls depending on the scenario they are trying to emulate.

For: Health professionals and medical students.

• Main pros – Primarily for Genetic Counsellors/Practitioners, Geneticists, General Practitioners, related healthcare professionals and GCSE to Postgraduate students.
• Main cons – Cost

The Genetic Counselling App can be used during patient consultation to explain various complex genetics concepts and provide additional information as a teaching tool. The app is also a great revision tool for students.

The app explains some common genetics tests carried out in modern age. Finally the Genetics Counselling App links out to useful additional information which means the user can also easily access a wide range of up to date genetic websites when they come across less common genetic conditions.

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The app provides a good and modern way to teach and revise genetic basics and also the less common genetics conditions.

All posts on this blog are subject to the St George’s Library Disclaimer, please take the time to read it carefully.

Updated: 15th Sept 2017

Quick Look: Prognosis: Your Diagnosis

Name: Prognosis: Your Diagnosis

Publisher: Medical Joyworks

Devices: Android 4.1 and up. Tablets and iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad

Other requirements: The app takes 2.8mb to install, but as you download more cases, it will use up more memory.

Tested on:  Nexus 7

Available from: Apple’s iStore and the Google Play

Price: Free.

Type of information: Clinical case simulation game for physicians, medical students, nurses, and paramedics.

For: Physicians, medical students, nurses, and paramedics.

• Main pros – Free. New cases available regularly. Easy to use interface
• Main cons – Simplistic binary choices for clinical case management.

This clinical case simulation games is very simple to use and quick to download. Once you’ve installed the main app, you are given a list of cases that you download individually. Pick the ones you want to download, and once they are stored on your phone, you wont need 3g or WiFi to access the cases. You can browse all medical cases, or pick from four different categories: medicine, surgery, gyn & obs, and pediatrics. For each case, you go through 3 steps.

1. History: gives you information about the patient.
2. Investigate: you are given a selection of diagnostic tests that you can choose to perform, for the example below, this included TSH + FT$ and MRI Thorax.
3. Management: you are given four patient management choices to pick from. You can choose more than one option.

After this you are given a score depending on the choices that you have made.

Medical Joyworks have releases other versions of the app for particular specialties, such as cardiology and neurology.

 

For more information: read the iMedicalApps review or go to the official app website.

 

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

***

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.

 

Best Practice App update now available

Message from BMJ:

A new release of the Best Practice app is now available on iTunes. The technical issues with the display of some treatment options in the previous version, which caused BMJ to temporarily withdraw the app, have been resolved and all iPhone and iPad users should update to the new release at the earliest opportunity. –  BMJ 17/01/2013

Best Practice is free to download and contains 20 free sample topics.

SGUL Staff and Students have access to the full contents of the Best Practice App via their institutional  login.  If you have not used it before follow these instructions to get started.

1. In order to access full content you must first create a “My Best Practice” account.   You must create this account while connected to the University network. This connects your account to the University’s subscription and allows you access to full content.

2. Download the app from the app store http://itunes.apple.com

3. From ‘Settings’ (iPhone, iPod Touch) or ‘Subscriptions’ (iPad) go to the ‘Account’ page and login with your My Best Practice account

4. ‘All topics’ will automatically begin to download. It is recommended to download over a good wifi connection.

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