I first received the Pocket Anatomy app back in 2012 from my parents for university. I studied a Human Biology degree which included modules on the Musculoskeletal System and Anatomy & Physiology. I couldn’t recommend the apps enough, especially the Pocket Heart & Pocket Anatomy to healthcare professionals, or healthcare/medical students.
Paris Smith – Student Physician Associate
The pocket anatomy app is very unique to free applications available, that look at particular body systems such as the Muscles within the body. The pocket anatomy app, gives you the option of looking at system based pins, whether it is nervous system, endocrine or circulatory system among a few. This has been particularly helpful for me through my undergraduate degree and now postgraduate degree, being a visual learner.
During my undergraduate degree, I used the Pocket Anatomy app alongside personal and university lecture notes to learn the muscles. Something that appealed to me about this app was that I could add my own notes to each body pin.
Since finishing university & beginning my postgraduate studies as a Physician Associate, the Pocket Anatomy & Pocket Heart app have been invaluable. The pocket anatomy, helps put things into a greater perspective in relation to the whole body when working with a single body system for example looking at the respiratory system and its contribution to the cardiovascular system.
This application in addition to having body system views, it brings an addition to multiple choice quizzes, identifying pin locations, you can make this to your preference. So rather than it being the whole body, it could be solely head and neck, the upper or lower limb or trunk of the body. This was great for me learning musculoskeletal systems as an undergraduate as I would set the pin identifier to muscles only and test myself in a run up to a class exam.
Recent updates have also included free 1 minutes videos. The option to buy more credits is available, however I’m unsure how much a student may spend to get more credits. Credits can be used to save videos to watch at a later date. The short videos are useful for a very short introduction to a conditions eg. Eczema. As it has information about the condition itself and the reasons for possible flare up episodes in a patient. This would be useful in a GP surgery when informing patients of a condition, where you wished to show a better example for greater understanding in little time.
I have used the pocket brain app very briefly when looking at pre-class lecture slides on neuroanatomy. I was pleasantly surprised to see the pocket brain app has a section for the nerve pathways, the various layers and the cross sections. Each sub-section is accompanied with the classic pins, only these also have hyperlinks to other parts of the brain. This has the classic pocket body app layout with each pin’s function, clinical relevance, anatomy and the section to add your own notes.
The pocket heart is a great support when learning the external arteries & veins of the heart. I found the additional case studies and the glossary are exceptional in supporting my studies, as it helps strengthen my understanding, if not clear up any misunderstanding through use of the glossary as a first look place. The case studies show patient information, including age and presenting symptoms plus an ECGs and you’re able to work through the case.
Note:
One downfall I found when the old version did update in 2014 the notes I had made were deleted, I’m hoping this has been amended on later versions (This bug is now fixed – Ed.)
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