DigitalNeurosurgeon.com

As the most urgent items on my tasklist for Surgical Neurology International have been completed, I had the opportunity to take up another hobby: iPhone development.

First, I have been working on an update for NeuroMind, my most successful iPhone app. Here is an actual screenshot of the stats for my apps. This contains the number of unique users, updates are not even counted here!

After more than 21.000 users downloading and installing the software, it’s time again for an update. I just submitted version 1.2 to the App Store, where it is now awaiting approval. It has been tested on iOS4 without any issues.

The new version contains some new scores and info on Surgical Neurology International. For details and screenshots, please visit the NeuroMind description on this site.

(click for full size version)

Second, I started reading “iPhone SDK Development” by Dudney & Adamson. For NeuroMind version 1.x I use XML to store the data. Currently I am expanding my knowledge on iPhone development, as I want to use SQLite or (probably) Core Data for a large update to version 2. A search function is currently not available in the app, and I would like to include that in the future.

Content will be more focused on scores and checklists, as those two are the categories that are used the most and valued the highest, according to the reactions I get on the software.

In the same time I am collaborating with a Canadian medical student, Jonathan Lau, who has a degree in computer science besides his medical education. He has experience in Java programming and offered to develop a NeuroMind version for the Android OS. Our current time schedule is to have both new versions available in Q4 – 2010.

Last week two people E-mailed me to ask if I intend to release NeuroMind for Android.

Actually, the answer is “no” and “yes”. I did not intend to bring NeuroMind to Android for practical reasons: I am no Android developer. I do have some experience in programming Java, but too little to develop an Android app in a reasonable time frame. In which “reasonable” is defined as “not delaying my priorities”.

On the other hand, I would be interested in collaborating on an Android version of NeuroMind. If somebody who has some experience in Android development could contact me, we can work out a plan.

Raffi and Alice, thanks for your question!

Update May 25: I have been contacted by somebody who is interested in developing an app for Android. We are currently working out a plan. If more information is available, I will post it on the blog.

Update after two months presence in the App Store: > 15.000 downloads for my iPhone apps! Thanks to all people who downloaded and are using the software. I hope you like it.

I already wrote a post that some of my iPhone apps have been mentioned on other weblogs. Now there is a new blog to add to that list. It’s called Medicalchemy and it’s the blog from Nurse Practitioner Degree. They wrote a post titled “33 iPhone Apps Every Healthcare Professional Needs” and I am happy to see that NeuroMind made it into that list.

What’s going on at the moment? I have applied for a university grant on m-learning, and proudly mentioned all these blogs that highlighted my iPhone apps (with particular attention to the interview on iMedicalApps.com). Further I was pleasantly surprised to see that Safe OR from QxMD is for free now. They make interesting apps, but the former price of €7,99 was too much for that app. Safe Surgery is for free, and got a nice reference in one of the Safe OR reviews (click for original size):

Dutch comment on Safe OR, referring to Safe Surgery

Regarding iPhone development, I have paused that now. Temporarily, I guess. Just waiting for iPhone OS 4 to arrive, before continuing.

For now, I am making progress with my efforts in open web standards. As there is some NDA involved in my current project, I cannot do into details on the content now. But I’ve improved my knowledge of CSS and JavaScript / Jquery already, and expect to learn more in the future. I am especially grateful for the nice examples by Soh Tanaka and the Nifty Corners article.

Planning to update NeuroMind’s content soon, and continuing development in these open standard on a new app.

By now, the updates for NeuroMind and Safe Surgery have been approved and are available in the App Store. Which made me remember to update the screenshots of NeuroMind! I uploaded new images (of the screens that changed) for the App Store, and on my website.

Recently I re-discovered how to use the magic wand tool in Adobe PhotoShop, so it was easy to remove the extra whitespace surrounding the iPhone screenshots in landscape mode, and put them a little over the four “portrait-oriented” screenshots. Which I think makes it look prettier.

The screenshots are meant for use in the NeuroMind section of this site, but for fun: here they are!

(click for large version)

I submitted updates for both the NeuroMind and Safe Surgery app to the App Store. They’re now waiting for approval: it should take some days before upgrades appear on your phone.

NeuroMind now goes to version 1.1 with these updates:

Content

• Anatomy > Peripheral category added with three images
• Renamed “WHO Safe Surgery” to “Safe Surgery”
• Scores > Other > ASA class added
• Updates menu-item added
• Smiley-icon added for each item that is new in the latest version

Technical

• Improved auto-rotation function for smoother user experience.
• Updated version number

(click for large version)

Safe Surgery 1.01 just had an updated notation of the copyright information.

Enjoy the software! With >7000 downloads of NeuroMind and >1100 downloads of SLIC so far, I guess that should be no problem! :-)

And that’s two! Last week SLIC has been accepted for the App Store, and today NeuroMind has been added as well! I like this screenshot, and although in Dutch, you’ll get the point! ;-)

Both apps together (click for full size)

I intend to publish an article in a peer-reviewed scientific journal about both. Currenly I am preparing the first manuscript on SLIC. Tomorrow, the new version of the Maastricht University magazine will appear that contains an interview with me on the apps (in Dutch).

A new version of the NeuroMind iPhone app has been released (now version 0.8). Some new scores have been added, like the CHADS2. Most important, the core content of the WHO Safe Surgery checklist has been added. The items are available in three separate screens (Before Anaesthesia, Before Skin Incision, and Before Leaving The Operating Room) for easy reading. After rotation to landscape mode, the device automatically shows the full checklist.

Here are some screenshots (click for large version):

The official release (of version 1.0) is expected in first or second quarter of 2010.

My first neurosurgical iPhone application is undergoing serious progress. Version 0.7 is ready now, which includes content additions, improved navigation and -necessary, I think- a disclaimer. Below is a screenshot compilation of what it looks like now (click for large version):

January 2010 I will check the content with the head of our department, and then I intend to submit the application to the App Store. Content updates can be done later, depending on the wishes of the community. I want to get it out now…. for free!

Yes! After working for half a day in Google Docs I have the “Procedures” category in the upcoming NeuroMind iPhone application almost complete. Some refining still needs to be done, but now I have 10 procedures in 4 categories as shown in the image (click for large version).

Meaning: added 8 new procedures and added all the categories today… happy about it! :-)

NeuroMind procedures update

I decided to stick with NeuroMind, and have been adding some content with Google Docs. Twitter followers have seen it before, but here is a screenshot compilation of what the current version looks like:

Click for large version

Starting to like it.. need to add more content before App Store submission (scheduled for Q1 2010).