The European Association of Urology (EAU) has released a significantly improved EAU Guidelines app, consolidating cancer and benign guidelines into a single, user-friendly interface. Navigating the guidelines is now easier with touch-responsive squares and, crucially, the content is divided into sub-sections, making it much more practical for use in clinics and meetings. This sub-sectioning is the app’s biggest advantage, surpassing the utility of printed or PDF versions.

Available for free download on Google Play and iTunes, the app requires an EAU account login. The bottom navigation bar provides access to the home screen, guidelines/tools list, forward/back buttons, search, and options to add notes or favorite sections.

Beyond the guidelines themselves, the app includes a “Tools” section with various calculators and algorithms. For example, the non-muscle invasive bladder cancer guideline offers a sub-menu for the EORTC risk calculator. These tools are well-designed and functional.

While this app is a major advancement over the discontinued 2015 pocket guidelines app, its conciseness is a double-edged sword. The reviewer prefers a version containing the full guidelines with linked references, similar to this format. Customization options, such as uploading images or documents, would also be beneficial. Additionally, the user interface could be further streamlined to reduce the number of taps required for navigation.

Despite these minor drawbacks, the free EAU Guidelines app is highly recommended for all EAU members and urologists, as well as other healthcare professionals working in urology. Its concise format makes it particularly valuable in clinical settings. With a few more refinements, this app format should be the standard for all future full editions of the EAU guidelines, maximizing accessibility to this important knowledge base.

Published : 2/10/2016

Author: Mr Ivo Dukic, Consultant Urological Surgeon, Unversity Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust, subspecialising in endourology and kidney stone surgery, Birmingham, United Kingdom.  Further information can be found through his Top Doctors profile or book an appointment through the Harborne Hospital, HCA Healthcare or the Priory Hospital, Edgbaston, Circle Health Group. Website: ivodukic.co.uk. Twitter (X) @urolsurg.

Urology News and BrainyDoc Ltd are back with another brand new educational app called ‘Urological Emergencies’. The app is available as a free download for iPhone and iPad (iTunes) and Android mobile devices (Google Play).

The Urological Emergencies app provides a series of topics relating to common urological emergencies. The layout is similar to the Urology News app with a central ‘Contents’ menu detailing various emergency conditions. A tap reveals more on each condition, on a single scrolling page and the sections can be easily accessed through a series of shortcuts at the top of each page. Each section provides a structured approach to the diagnosis, investigation and management of common urological emergency conditions. At the bottom of the ‘Contents’ page there is a link to relevant British Association of Urological Surgeons (BAUS) consent forms in and information on the authorship of the app.

The app covers a wide range of common urological emergencies. The content is thoroughly researched and has been approved by the BAUS Education Committee. The content is chiefly designed for hospital practitioners and would be most suitable for accident and emergency doctors and nurse specialists, foundation doctors, core trainees and allied specialists who are responsible for patients with emergency urological conditions. It can also be used a teaching aid for medical students and would be a beneficial resource for community healthcare practitioners.

Conclusions

The Urological Emergencies app is useful for anybody involved in the diagnosis and management of urological emergencies. The app is well researched and has the potential to greatly improve the standard of patient care. I would highly recommend downloading the Urological emergencies app and sharing it with your teams. Voted best app in the BJUI Social Media Awards 2016, BJUI Journal.

Ivo Dukic, Consultant Urological Surgeon, Plymouth Hospitals NHS Trust