All packages run on both Macintosh and Windows platforms, unless otherwise stated. Minimum specifications are a 486 (PC) or 68030 (Mac) processor, 4 MB RAM, 4 MB hard drive space, mouse, SVGA graphics card/monitor and a 2X CD-ROM drive. Additional requirements, the number of disks and any extra items included are noted at the end of each review.

 
Emergency Medicine Plus
Year/Version: 1996

Reviewed September 1997
by: Marjorie Lazoff, MD
Emergency Medicine
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Medical Editor
Medical Computing Today
 
Ratings (1=poor, 5=superior)
Content.........................5
Programming.................3
CAI...............................2
Error handling................5
Support.........................4
 
T wo classic Boards-preparation favorites÷Tintinalli's Emergency Medicine, A Comprehensive Study Guide and Koenig's Clinical Emergency Medicine Pretest÷are coupled on this first version CD-ROM. Tintinalli, which began four editions ago as the American College of Emergency Physicians' core content resource handbook, has grown into a hard covered emergency medicine textbook that Boards-preparing residents can no longer read, much less memorize, cover-to-cover (although many still try). On CD the text is straightforward with links via pop-up windows to more than 500 tables, 700 drawings, and an assortment of radiographs. Folio Views permits highlighting, bookmarks, and notes on a shadow file.
 
Koenig's 620 multiple choice questions are divided into 20 topics. After reading the question, users click a letter to open a pop-up window saying "incorrect" or confirming the correct answer with a short explanation. Almost all questions include a link to the chapter (not specific reference) in Tintinalli. Sadly, there is no option to generate random questions or a computerized score, and unless one uses personalization features such as highlighting answered questions, there is no method for separating answered from unanswered or incorrectly answered questions. As for content, Koenig is a trusted reference that favors mainstream emergency medicine over minutiae, but its lack of radiographs and EKG strips seriously impairs preparation and review in sections such as orthopedics and cardiology.
 
Tintinalli detractors lament the large number of typos and errors, stingy use of graphics, and its being poorly referenced given its stature in the profession. But most regard it as one of the specialty's most important resources, and it is the EM text-to-beat in any medium for Boards preparation and recertification. Emergency Medicine Plus would be a wonderful resource were it to compensate for its texts' graphical weakness by employing multimedia and CAI in a fully realized electronic format with more specific reference links and computerized testing features. For now, it is an option for those who enjoy the convenience of a (relatively clumsy) search engine, pop-up answers, and links to text chapters rather than turning the pages oneself.
 
$179; 620 questions; 200 ACEP hrs. CME, 1st 10 free; one CD-ROM; requires 8 MB RAM.
 
Source: McGraw-Hill Health Professions Division, 1221 Ave. of the Americas, New York NY 10020; 800-262-4729; http://www.mcgraw-hill.com

 
 
Med-Challenger
Year/Version: April 1997
 
Reviewed September 1997
by: Marjorie Lazoff, MD
Emergency Medicine
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Medical Editor
Medical Computing Today
 
Ratings (1=poor, 5=superior)
Content.........................3
Programming.................5
CAI...............................3
Error handling................5
Support.........................5
 
Initially created for emergency physicians, Challenger Corporation has expanded its huge computerized bank of questions and answers to accommodate family practitioners, internists, and pediatricians, and to subjects common to primary care specialties such as ECG, dermatology and radiology. This review is limited to the comprehensive versions of the four specialty Med-Challengers; depending on the specialty, the comprehensive material is also divided into five to seven modules, each of which may be purchased separately.
 
All comprehensive versions are cleverly housed on one CD accessible by code keys purchased through the company. Each specialty is divided into chapters and topics comprising well-designed review-type questions with a very brief supporting explanation. Content is shared; for example, both family medicine and internal medicine contain the same 29 neurologic assessment Q&As. But content is also selective, so that only the former program includes head and neck trauma (as does the emergency medicine version), and questions within topics are sometimes individualized to the specialty as well. Unfortunately, there seem to be strained inclusions and missed exclusions. For example, the family practice version includes three chapters on trauma but none on preventive medicine, and despite the obvious importance of a skilled neurologic assessment in the newborn and infant, the pediatrics version contains the same 29 adult neurologic assessment questions noted above. Challenger describes itself as covering all aspects of acute primary care medicine, which very arguably excludes preventive medicine and neonatal neurologic assessment in the family practice and pediatric versions÷but certainly these are central topics from a Boards review perspective. There are enough exclusions that purchasers are advised to review the list of chapters and topics, and pediatricians should be aware that many questions are drawn from the bank of adult Q&As.
 
The Q&A data bank is treated as primary reference and as such is appropriately and extensively indexed with a topic (not free text) search that links directly to a question. Lists of images and references are similarly presented but are not linked to either the index or question. This is particularly disappointing with regard to references, since users seeking further information on a specific question can not reliably find that question's supporting data. The most recent references are four years old and many come from the 1980s, and the index's topic-related Items to View window is too small at 600 x 800 resolution to show the full title. Taken with a greater than usual disagreement with a number of answers, I find it difficult to regard Med-Challenger as a primary reference.
 
Although its content is less credible then one would hope, Med-Challenger excels as quick, solidly programmed software. The main menu is busy but organized, with click-on tabs on top for review, test, index, images, and reference lists. Access to Q&As is via several well-thought out formats, each under the user's full control: either all or only new questions, with answers provided for content review or in test mode, within a topic or randomly generated. I found the many accompanying photographs, radiographs, and illustrations to be of acceptable quality, with a welcome zoom feature although without much-needed arrows to hone in on important anatomy or pathology; SESAP's marker toggle, disabled while in testing mode, may be a good solution here. Both recall and recognition can be tested since at first only the question is presented. Accompanying images in pop-up windows with zoom features and captions are identified by an open eye on the vertical toolbar at the left of the screen. Clicking a Show Answer button at the bottom of the screen reveals the multiple choice or check-all-that-apply reply options, and new buttons that let one include the selection in one's official tally, keep it as practice, or ask the software to provide the answer. A correct selection is accompanied by an optional tada.wav sound file but I could find no way to disable the messages of encouragement in the status bar. Scores are saved from session to session and can be downloaded for backup or CME credit, although scores can also be reset at any time. Personalization features on the vertical toolbar include bookmarks and notes, either of which can be searched. The minor software bug in the find dialog box that disengages keyboard entries until the first letter is entered via a mouse click should be easy to fix.
 
Challenger's sophisticated programming is unfortunately weakened by the limited scope of its non-EM specialty content, by its lack of supporting and suggested references for each question (the only program in this group that fails to do so), and by providing relatively few references from the 1990s.
 
$615; 4,000 questions; 200 ACEP hrs. CME; one CD-ROM (comprehensive), or one or more diskettes; diskettes require up to 25 MB hard drive space.
 
Source: Challenger Corp., 5530 Summer Ave., Memphis TN 38134; 901-385-1840 or 800-676-0822; www.Chall.com

 

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Reviews of other Boards Review Software:

• Introduction and Comparative Chart
• Family Practice
• Internal Medicine
• OB/GYN
• Pediatrics
• Psychiatry & Neurology (no product reviewed yet)
• Surgery