by Kazeem Olalekan MRPharmS

In August of last year, I reviewed the iphone app called MicroGuide that details the antimicrobial guideline at University Hospital Southampton NHS Foundation Trust. I like Apps that help me do my job on the go. It is therefore with great pleasure that I welcome the free app by the nice guys and ladies at NICE which effectively give you the NICE guidance library on-the-go. Like a small boy with his toy, I have been putting the app to the test…

Interface:

 

 

The app has the unremarkable name of NICEGuidance (Search for it in the App store) – It does exactly what it says on the tin.

The app has a orange interface which is quite pleasing to the eye. The future is bright as they say… You are presented with a page grouped as:

  1. Conditions & Diseases
  2. Public Health
  3. Bookmarks
  4. NICE Info (I should hope the information is nice!)
  5. …and the all important search button.

I consider this to be quite intuitive.

The Conditions and Diseases are grouped into body systems. As an example under Respiratory, you will find Lung cancer and Tuberculosis. For those who find this difficult, the Search box would be very useful. It is possible to filter down the search when you arrive in the body system:

As an example, I typed in ‘steroids’ in Respiratory body system and was served with two guidelines: TA138: Inhaled corticosteroids for the treatment of chronic asthma AND TA131: Inhales  corticosteroids for the treatment of chronic asthma in children under the age of 12 years

This is powerful stuff! I counted 17 body systems ranging from Cancer, Digestive system and Eye to Infectious diseases, Musculoskeletal and Urogenital. Whilst Cancer is not a body system, it is a recognised clinical area. The key point is: It is intuitive. I cannot let strict adherence to some rules interfere with intuition. Are you getting the feeling I like this App?…..I am not done yet.

The Public Health section took my breath away…literally! (I know the folks on the Today program may have something to say about that). This section contains topics as diverse as Alcohol, Cancer and Diabetes to Drugs, Environmental health, Sexual health and Vaccine preventable diseases. There is even a topic on ‘Working with and involving communities’. So I tapped on the Drug section (as a pharmacist and all!), and what do I get?:

Information on:

  • Needle and syringe programmes: providing
  • Psychosis with coexisting substance misuse
  • Methadone & Buprenorphine for the management of opioid dependence

These are great stuff. There are more of course. All on my finger-tip!

I was even able to bookmark my work for later reading:

 

And its up to date….I can prove it!

As I was writing this piece, I kept getting pop-up telling me about Updates! (see pic below). This app has been developed very well from ground up with up-to-date information. I have no doubt that the structures and interface may evolve based on feedback but I have been very impressed with what I have seen so far.

 

So if I am grading this app out of 10: What will it be? I’ll say…..9.99999998.

I think if you have an iphone and you work in UK Healthcare, you must want to download this app…..P E R I O D.

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On April 8, 2012   /   Exclusive Review, Opinion   /   4 Comments
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4 Comments
  1. Kazeem Olalekan MRPharmS
    12:16 pm on April 10, 2012

    There is an equivalent Android App on Google Play here (Search for NICE Guidance). I downloaded it and it works exactly like the iphone App described above. I like the fact that this great app is available across platforms.

    Related Twitter posts

    Kazeem Olalekan ‏ @bookapharmacist
    @NICEcomms Your iphone app is great. I posted a review here: http://bit.ly/HwqNKI / Nice Job (@bookapharmacist)
    https://twitter.com/#!/bookapharmacist/status/189482717405122562

    NICE ‏ @NICEcomms
    Thanks! RT @bookapharmacist: Your iphone app is great. I posted a review here: http://bit.ly/HwqNKI
    https://twitter.com/#!/NICEcomms/status/189649336278331392

    Dave Smith ‏ @hosea4gomer
    @NICEcomms @bookapharmacist Is there an Android App on way?
    https://twitter.com/#!/hosea4gomer/status/189649518361456640

    Kazeem Olalekan ‏ @bookapharmacist
    @hosea4gomer @nicecomms I will check but maybe @NICEcomms has the answer to that at their fingertip.
    https://twitter.com/#!/bookapharmacist/status/189650213739315200

    NICE ‏ @NICEcomms
    @bookapharmacist @hosea4gomer Yes! Link on homepage http://www.nice.org.uk
    https://twitter.com/#!/NICEcomms/status/189650426365358080

    Kazeem Olalekan ‏ @bookapharmacist
    @hosea4gomer @NICEcomms Great it's available across platforms. Will have a look at the Android equivalent today & blog the experience
    https://twitter.com/#!/bookapharmacist/status/189652691255959552

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