Originally started as an intellectual challenge after reading an article on how easy the iPhone was to program for (and as an excuse to buy one) the project has built up into collection of apps with almost 20000 downloads. The apps have been downloaded in almost every country that the iPhone is available in (>50) and we have followed Apple onto new platforms like the iPad. A great moment so far was having sales in China on the first day the iPhone was available there.

The main philosophy is to produce apps with professional colleagues that are aimed at other existing and potential healthcare workers. i.e. medical students, postgraduates, junior doctors in training and doctors doing PDP work.

Our first app was iCalcRisk - a cardiac risk calculator based on the British JBS2 guidelines. This is still available.

We then launched the illustrated A2Z of Dermatology - our most popular app. Based on the award winning book by Dr Ian Williams and Dr Vivienne Ankrett this has short notes on a whole range of common dermatological conditions. Purposely light on treatments as these vary from country to country it aims to inform the health care worker about common conditions they may see. An iPad version with a built in quiz is also available.

iMCQs in Dermatology was the first MCQ app. The 200 questions and answers are written by Dr Charles Roberts a GP with Special Interest in Dermatology and one of my partners at www.sandbachgps.nhs.uk and are illustrated with photographs from his personal collection. It is aimed at medical students, junior doctors and especially GPs in training. Although some of the comments are UK centric - much of the app is applicable worldwide and it is the most popular iMCQ app so far. An update with 50 new questions is coming soon.

iMCQs in Physiology was created in partnership with Dr Ian Kay, Senior Lecturer in Physiology and Pharmacology at The Manchester Metropolitan University. He is an external examiner for a london medical school so the 100 questions are of particular relevance to medical students as well as physiology students.

iMCQs in General Medicine was originally written by me based on some of the images from the A2Z of Dermatology app as well another of Dr Williams and Ankrett’s books. It has just been (May 2011) updated to version 2 that includes 257 more questions. Just over 100 written by Joanne Goodwin, clinical pharmacist and 150 on a range of medical topics. V2 of the interface also includes the ability to choose which subject to answer from. It is aimed at medical students and junior doctors doing general medicine and general practice.

iMCQs in General Surgery has 137 questions written by Dr Simon Gowda MBChB MRCS MRCGP on a range of surgical topics aimed at medical students and junior doctors. Most questions have detailed answers to aid revision. More questions are in the pipeline.

iMCQs in Pain Medicine has 100 MCQs written by Dr Pradeep Chopra MD. Dr Chopra holds the prestigious appointment of Assistant Professor (Clinical), Department of Medicine, Brown Medical School, Division of Biology and Medicine and Assistant Professor of Anesthesiology (Adjunct), Boston University School of Medicine. Dr. Chopra is double Board Certified in Pain Management and Anesthesiology by the American Board of Anesthesiology.

A2Z of Intermediate Care is an iPhone version of a book by Dr Graeme Spencer and Dr Vicki Gilmore both of whom are GPs who also work in immediate or out of hospital (first response) care. Deliberately avoiding the text book approach it is subtitled “everything you want to know about pre-hospital care but were afraid to ask”. It is perhaps our most UK Centric app though some of the hints and tips will be relevant to other healthcare systems.

iMCQs in Biochemistry  contains 200 single best answer MCQs on the topic of biochemistry. The questions are written by Caroline Wardropper. Caroline studied Natural Sciences (Biochemistry) at Cambridge University, England and currently works in the healthcare industry. The Biochemistry iMCQs are aimed not only at Biochemistry undergraduate students but anyone who has an element of biochemistry is their course such as those studying Medicine, Dentistry, Biomedical sciences etc. The questions are designed to be used to complement your learning and revision by allowing you to check your knowledge and to provide additional learning points. The set of 200 questions, including some diagrams, covers all the Key subjects such as Proteins, Enzymes, Metabolism, Genetics and Biosynthesis.

August 2011 - We are pleased to announce the launch of A2ZZZ of Hypnosis in collaboration with Dr Andrew Doyle a Cheshire GP and trained hypnotherapist. He has produced numerous recordings for his patients over the years and has been selling these as CDs. We have wrapped them up into an app and are offering them for sale worldwide (currently excepting USA and Canada). See our dedicated page for more info.

January 2012 - Xrays4Medics is now available on the app store. Written by Dr Richard Hawkins - Consultant Radiologist at Leighton Hospital, Cheshire. It contains 50 clinical cases where the Xray helps you make the diagnosis. Aimed at Junior Doctors, Other front line clinical staff and Medical Students it contains high res images and detailed explanations and answers.

If you are interested in authoring an app with us or have any comments or corrections please get in touch. We have built up quite a lot of experience writing, developing and working with authors on these apps and are looking for other partnerships and have given free advice to a range of other authors who now also have apps on the app store.

Dr Neil Paul