EHSLibrary » iPads

Leading medical app blog mentions libraries!

Todd Vandenbark — Thu, 12 Apr 2012 14:14:51 +0000

As a regular reader of the iMedicalApps blog, I was excited by the title of a recent posting: “If you don’t have an iPad, go to the medical library and borrow one.” The post goes on to highlight three U.S. schools that check out iPads to physicians: Nova Southeastern University (NSU), Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU), and University of Central Florida (UCF), and one in the Netherlands, University Medical Center Groningen. The latter institution’s program was so successful that they added five more iPads to their initial fleet of three, and are documenting everything on their wiki site.

What uses are these devices being put to?

Amanda Chiplock MLS, the Acquisitions Emerging Technologies Librarian at the Nova Southeastern University Health Professions Division Library reported that most of the physicians who borrow their iPads are using them for teaching and presentations (45%) or videos and research (40%) [from iMedicalApps post].

Doctors and other patrons who check out these devices can install their own software selections, and retain access to those apps for use via their account at the iTunes Store, should they decide to purchase an iPad for themselves. Challenges arise when using these devices to access institutional electronic medical records (EMR), but they are not insurmoutable. Upon return to the library, these devices are easily wiped and reset back to their basic configuration for the next patron.

As noted in an earlier post, the Eccles Health Sciences Library also has a mobile device check-out program, providing patrons the option of test-driving any of the following eReaders and tablets before purchasing one for themselves:

Apple’s iPad (3 available)
Motorola Xoom (3 available)
Amazon Kindle (6 available)
Barnes and Noble Nook (3 “1st Edition” and 3 color)

The check-out period is two weeks (as of this writing), and upon check-in, patrons are asked to complete a brief survey on how the device was used, etc.

Have you checked out an iPad, eReader or other mobile computing device from Eccles Library or another library? What device did you check out, and how did you use it? What did you like and dislike about it? Tell us!

Mobile app for gross anatomy: Muscle System Pro II

Todd Vandenbark — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 15:40:10 +0000

As reviewed in iMedicalApps, Muscle System Pro II “is one of the best apps for gross anatomy related to muscular system.” It makes good use of basic features of the iPad, iPhone and iPod touch such as tap-to-zoom, pinch and zoom, and swipe gestures. “Users can rotate, cut, zoom, and view animations of the body gaining an understanding of the complex anatomy associated with the musculoskeletal system.” The app opens by presenting users with a 3-D model of the human body.

With the app’s tools, users can:

Add or remove up to 10 layers of muscles with the Scalpel
Rotate muscles vertically and horizontally
Move laterally between muscle groups
Turn on standard pin-style labels which illustrate major musculoskeletal points in each view
Test themselves using the Quiz function.

This app is currently prices at $19.99. As of this writing, the page in the iTunes store for this app indicates that the developer, 3D4Medical.com, has “agreed to extend the price reduction for this app for another few weeks.”

Pros

High-quality 3-D muscle images that can be easily manipulated.
Quiz function
Detailed information about muscle groups via pin labels

Cons: it lacks some information regarding skeletal components of the systems.

Do you use this app? Tell us about it!

Report on iPad usability

Todd Vandenbark — Fri, 08 Jul 2011 22:25:56 +0000

According to the blog ReadWriteWeb, web usability expert Jakob Nielsen has published a report about how people are using iPads. This is a follow-up report to his first usability study of the iPad a year ago, and it provides details about strengths and problems with the device. Nielsen reports that both versions of the iPad work well with websites as long as any tasks users had to complete on a given website weren’t too complicate. For many apps, touchable areas are just too small and not easy to use, with some not even looking touchable. And when there are multiple items on the same screen that can be manipulated with swiping, there are ambiguity problems with it.

The Eccles Library has purchased a number of eReaders (iPads, nooks, Kindles) for patrons to learn about and experiment with, and will be made available to the public after our staff have been trained on them. Stay tuned…