In the past decade, smartphone applications (or 'Apps') have experienced remarkable development across all fields of medicine, including neurosurgery. However, due to a lack of regulatory oversight and peer-review, there is a clear need for comprehensive review and audit of the existing available Apps.
In a study, Bergeron et al., aimed to systematically review existing mobile Apps in neurosurgery, evaluate their clinical use by neurosurgery residents in Canada, and perform a quality audit of the most popular Apps.
Indexed Apps were identified on either Google Play Store or the iOS App Store using a comprehensive list of keywords related to neurosurgery. A subsequent cross-sectional survey of 76 Canadian neurosurgery residents was conducted, including a section on smartphone application use. We then evaluated the most popular Apps among residents using the Healthcare Smartphone App Evaluation Tool (HSAET) and performed a quality audit of their content based on established medical references.
The survey identified 118 mobile Apps related to neurosurgery. The three most used Apps used by the current cohort of Canadian neurosurgery residents were Neurosurgery Survival Guide, Neuromind, and the Journal of Neurosurgery App. Each of these three Apps received an excellent score on the HSAET. A quality audit of 30 pages of the Neurosurgery Survival Guide and 40 clinical scores of the Neuromind App, performed by ten neurosurgery residents, failed to reveal inaccurate or false statements.
This study highlights the current landscape of neurosurgery mobile Apps and their use among neurosurgery residents 1).
The #1 app for neurosurgery in the world, three times mentioned in iMedicalApps’ “Top Apps“, CE marked and over 300,000 downloads!
NeuroMind offers interactive clinical decision support and more than 120 clinical classification and grading systems. The app is officially supported by Surgical Neurology International and the European Association of Neurosurgical Societies (EANS)
Version 3.0 (Dec 2015) is available as a free download for iOS and contains many improvements, such as:
Completely redeveloped for offline access while maintaining security standards. Favorites added! Split View added for iPhone 6(s) Plus and iPad Export of decision support data as spreadsheet Universal version for iPhone and iPad Compatible with iOS 9 New logo created by Studio Piranha New styling of score details Implemented CE-marked iRIS technology (interactive Risk Inventory System) Programmed in Apple’s new programming language Swift for optimal iOS compatibility on all devices (including iPhone 6S, iPhone 6S Plus and iPad Pro) New interactive content is made available as In App Purchases as an incentive to continue development.
Version 2.5 is available as a free download for Android. Content is webbased for easy & more frequent updates in future.
NeuroMind for Windows 8 is available since November 2012, and can be downloaded free of charge from the Windows Store. It contains all the scores that are available on iOS and on Android, but it does not yet contain the decision support items. Specific updates on the Windows 8 version are available here.
Testimonials The overall most rated and highest rated application out of all applications reviewed. – CNS Quarterly Fall 2013 Simply a must have for neurosurgeons and also neurologists. – iMedicalApps.com For a free app boasting this kind of content, it’s certainly worth the download. You might say it’s a no-brainer. – HealthCareITNews.com NeuroMind for Android is a great app for keeping neurology skills sharp. – iMedicalApps.com The neuromind app is very great resource for surgeons, physicians, medical students and other healthcare professionals. – Attune Technologies This app acts as a reference guide and companion to the entire surgical process from start to finish. – GetReferralMD.com A great app for neurologist, neurosurgeons and medical students. – MedCrunch.net Neuromind is the topmost application for neurosurgery in the world. – TopYapps.com An excellent app specifically targeted at neurosurgeons, neurologist and students working on neuro-based subjects. – TechVela.com Written by a neurosurgeon, this app contains all the neurological scores you need. – Better in Emergency Medicine NeuroMind can take physicians through a series of questions to help diagnose a patient who has had a head trauma or is unresponsive. – New York Times Great app, and a needed pocket companion for any modern neurosurgeon. – Ron Zellem; neurosurgeon, Hendersonville, TN Your app is wonderful. – Rangel Guimarães; neurosurgeon, Brazil Thanks for a great job! Very useful resource. – WT Seow; neurosurgeon, National Neuroscience Institute, Singapore It is very useful for both practice and residents. – Amit Mukherjee; neurosurgeon, Mumbai, India Excellent apps, congratulations doctor!! – Marcelo Abbona; neurosurgeon, Buenos Aires, Argentina Excellent application, all important scores, scales avaiable in one go. – Rajesh Raykar; neurosurgeon, Brunei Darussalam Very useful, thanks a lot. – Abbas Aziz Mahmoud ; neurosurgeon, Suleymania, Iraq Your application is a great help for daily work! – Michel Röthlisberger; resident in neurosurgery, Basel, Switzerland Great job! Great application! – Bruno Carvalho; resident in neurosurgery, Oporto, Portugal Excelente app para el dia a dia – Dr. Juan Correa; residente Neurocirugia, Panama Thanks for this app. It is the best free neuro app. – Evgeniy Starkov; neurologist, Tolyatti, Russia. Great app! Thanks. – Lydia Estanislao; neurologist, Las Vegas,USA Excellent and very useful! I am an internist and use it everyday; thank you. – Thilak Chander; internist, Sault Ste. Marie, MI, USA Thanks for all ur hard work on this app! – Douglas Maurer; Program Director Familiy Medicine Residency, USA This is a wonderful app for learning neuro-assessments. – Elon Hudson; Occupational Therapist, USA This is an amazing app. Thank you so much!!! – Olivia Po; medical student, Detroit, MI, USA Just wanted to thank you for the very impressive application you have contributed to. It’s a very useful app both for the clinical part of neurology and neurosurgery, but also for studying. So thanks a lot :) – Maria Overvad; medical student, Denmark As the graph below shows, NeuroMind is really used all over the world!
NeuroMind downloads worldwide Media coverage
Best neurosurgical clinical tool according to Zaki M, Drazin D. Smartphone use in neurosurgery? APP-solutely!. Surg Neurol Int 2014;5:113. Named one of the “Top Ten Internet-Smart Doctors in the WORLD 2013” (Feb 2014) Top 9 best mobile apps for medical students and doctors. WordMedicalSchool.org (Feb 2014) Best 5 Mobile applications for Healthcare & Medical purpose. Attune Technologies (Jan 2014) One of six “Need to Know Apps for Healthcare professionals in 2013” (Dec 2013) Editor’s pick award Best Windows 8 Apps (Dec 2013) Listed as the #1 app for neurosurgery in CNS Quarterly Magazine (Fall 2013) 6 Need to Know Apps for Healthcare Professionals in 2013. GetReferralMD.com (Oct 2013) Best available apps for the medical industry. TechVela.com (Sep 2013) Essential iPhone apps for medical students. American College of Physicians (Sep 2013) Top 7 Free Medical Apps for iPhone. Tech Experto (Sep 2013) Website/app of the month. Neurosurgery’s Brain School, University of Toronto (Sep 2013) Radio interview for BNR on eHealth (Jun 2013, Dutch) Magazine interview for Zorgvisie (Jun 2013, Dutch) Magazine interview for VVAA / Arts & Auto (May 2013, Dutch) Top 10 iPhone Apps for Medical Students. TopYaps.com (May 213) 5 Best Free Medical Apps for Health Practitioners. MedCrunch.net (May 2013) Top 12 Free iPhone Medical Apps For Doctors And Medical Students. DoctorsHangout.com (Apr 2013) Newspaper interview for Financieel Dagblad (Mar 2013, Dutch) Listed as a Top Ten “Best Top Free Medical Apps” (Mar 2013) Listed as one of the “indispensable tech-tools for nurses” (Mar 2013) The 8 Most Useful iPhone Apps For Medical Students, Health Care Practitioners And Professionals. Tech & Science (Jan 2013) Cover article on “Doctor App” in newspaper De Limburger (Jan 2013, Dutch) Article in CNS Quarterly – Winter 2013 (Jan 2013) Named one of the “Top Ten Internet-Smart Doctors in the WORLD 2012” (Dec 2012) iPhone apps for medical students. NursingDegree.org (Oct 2012) The App as Health Aide. New York Times (Jun 2012) Honorable Mention in iPad Top Apps series on iMedicalApps.com (Jun 2012) Review of Neurosurgical Smartphone Applications 2012. Journal MTM 1:4:4-10, 2012. Top 10 Healthcare iPhone apps. ComputerAndYou.net (Mar 2012) Top 6 iPhone apps for health professionals. Techybloggerz.com (Feb 2012) Article in the British Journal of Neurosurgery (Jun 2011) Article in the IBTA‘s Brain Tumour, World Edition 2011 Mentioned in Laika’s MedLibLog (Apr 2011) Presentation on TEDxMaastricht (Apr 2011; watch on YouTube) Interview in Mozaiek, Atrium MC magazine (Apr 2011, Dutch) Back cover on MediRisk magazine “Alert” (Mar 2011, Dutch) News item on Neurosurgic.com (Mar 2011) Article on iMedicalApps.com (Mar 2011) Interview in Medisch Contact magazine (Mar 2011, Dutch; see cover) Interview Dagblad De Limburger / Limburgs Dagblad (Mar 2011, Dutch) Article in MacFan magazine (Feb 2011, Dutch); “neuroloog” is an error… Article in Het Belang Van Limburg (2011, Flemish) Article on Ziekenhuiskrant.nl (2011, Dutch – page 7) Article on NieuweMedia.blog.nl (2011, Dutch) Article on Pharmamarketeer.nl (2011, Dutch) Article on Mednet.nl (2011, Dutch) Article on Technologie.blog.nl (2011, Dutch) Article on Huisartsvandaag.nl (2011, Dutch) Article on MedischOndernemen.nl (2011, Dutch) Article on MaastrichtAktueel.nl (2011, Dutch) Article on ScienceGuide.nl (2011, Dutch) Article on DigitaleZorg.nl (2011, Dutch) Article on GezondheidsKrant.nl (2011, Dutch) Article on ZorgVisie.nl (2011, Dutch) Article on Wetenschap24.nl (2011, Dutch) Article in Observant (2011, Dutch) Press release Maastricht University Medical Center (2011, Dutch / English) Interview Nederlands Tijdschrift voor Geneeskunde (2011, Dutch) 20 Best Medical & Health Apps For iPhone. EnFew.com (Jan 2011) The Best Medical iPhone Apps for Doctors and Med Students. SoftwareAdvice.com (Dec 2010) 10 free chartbuster iPhone Apps for Healthcare Professionals. Healthy Living (Jul 2010) 15 Most Forward-Thinking iPhone Apps for Doctors & Nurses. NursingSchools.net (Jul 2010) Article on Reach Out Pro (2010) Top 20 Free iPhone Medical Apps For Health Care Professionals (2010) Article in Arts & Auto, VVAA magazine (2010, Dutch) Interview American Medical Association (2010) 33 iPhone Apps Every Healthcare Professional Needs (2010) Free iPhone medical apps that every doctor can use (on KevinMD.com, 2010) Top 10 Free iPhone Medical Apps for Health care Professionals (2010) Interview Observant (2010, Dutch) Interview iMedicalApps.com (by @OrthoOnc, 2010) Status
The application can be downloaded for free for iPhone, iPad and Android. A preview of the web version (“Scores” only) is available at NeuroDSS.com.
Future developments
Development progress can be followed on the weblog.
Screenshots
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iPhone
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Patiëntveiligheid Door Apps | GezondheidsKrant 25/01/2011 at 13:08 […] zijn inmiddels 3 gratis apps – kleine mobiele programmaatjes (applicaties) – voor de iPhone: ‘NeuroMind’, ‘Safe Surgery’ en ‘SLIC’. NeuroMind bevat onder andere neurologische en […] #TEDxMaastricht « Laika's MedLibLog 19/04/2011 at 16:45 […] has made 3 free apps for the I-phone: ‘NeuroMind’, ‘Safe Surgery’ en ‘SLIC’. NeuroMind, an app meant to support decision making in […] Programas Ipad E Iphone Neurocirurgia (Neurosurgery Programs- Iphone And Ipad) « Neurocirurgia (About Neurosurgery) 04/09/2011 at 22:27 […] Programa com principais score e escalas em Neurocirurgia. Saiba mais aqui. […] Medicina E O Uso Da Tecnologia Móvel. ( IPhone, IPad E Android) | Neurosurgery Blog 18/03/2012 at 13:07 […] 6) Aplicativos para iPhone, iPad e Android […] Medicine And The Use Of Mobile Technology. (IPhone, IPhone And Android) | Neurosurgery Blog 18/03/2012 at 13:21 […] 6) Application for iPhone, iPhone and Android […] NeuroMind 24/09/2012 at 18:17 […] Link […] Stephanie Wilson 24/06/2013 at 20:33 Among more than 40,000 health and wellness apps, top doctors on HealthTap have chosen to recommend NeuroMind. We’ve very recently launched AppRx, and 1 U.S.-licensed doctor has already recommended NeuroMind. Congratulations! To highlight your accomplishment and build trust with existing and new potential users of NeuroMind feel free to use our customizable “Doctor Recommended App” badge on your website or blog at no cost. Adding a few lines of code found here (https://www.healthtap.com/apps/468/promote) to your site takes less than a minute and will showcase the “seal of approval” given to you and your app by top doctors. You can also increase the trust and reliability of your app by highlighting the fact that top doctors recommended your app in your App Store or Google Play app description with the following copy: • “NeuroMind is recommended by top U.S.-licensed doctors on HealthTap” • “Some of the world’s leading doctors have given NeuroMind a seal of approval on HealthTap and are recommending it to people everywhere!” Preview your personalized app badge today » https://www.healthtap.com/apps/468/promote Just like you, we’re app developers too, and know how challenging it is to create great apps (like yours) that people love and doctors trust – so we’d like to thank you for making the world a healthier, happier place, one line of code at a time! The HealthTap Team