Doctors.net.uk’s mobile app helps to extend the reach of live events, reveals James Sherwin-Smith, CEO of non-profit organisation D4
Conference Highlights is a an app by Doctors.net.uk that takes its existing online service and makes it available to members via their Apple iPod Touch, iPhone or iPad.
Design
The design is straightforward, the interface is relatively user friendly and the video quality is high. At the time of writing, there is only limited coverage of 10 conferences, so navigation is a relatively simple exercise. However, as the list of conferences covered by the app expands and the depth of coverage increases, it might be a good idea for the app to include a search or filter function to allow users to more easily locate specific content that is of interest to them.
In future updates, the app could be improved by making the user interface work in both portrait and landscape mode. At present the main interface only works in portrait mode, which limits the available window for viewing video clips. While videos can be viewed in a new window and then rotated to make the most of the display area and high quality recordings, the user is repeatedly required to rotate their device to navigate the content and view videos in this way.
In addition, some standard gestures using the touch sensitive screen don’t work as expected, which will be frustrating to those who are used to getting the most of Apple’s user interface technology.
For example, navigating from one article abstract to another requires clicking precisely on small left and right arrows, rather than scrolling with one finger, just as you do to scroll up and down. A ‘Remember me’ option on the login page would be helpful, reducing the need to enter a password every time you launch the app. Finally, a clear indication of what is new or has been viewed already would be a plus, as would the ability to bookmark or annotate the content.
Functionality
Once logged in using their DNUK membership details, users are presented with a chronological list of recent conferences that have been covered by the service, including video interviews with attendees and related article abstracts.
The video interface allows users to preview the list of questions asked at an event and then hyperlink to a segment of particular interest – a particularly innovative and useful feature for time-pressured individuals. Abstracts can be reviewed, and if requested, a package of complete articles can be delivered automatically via email. To function correctly, the app requires a data connection to the Internet either via wi-fi or the mobile network – the former is recommended when viewing high bandwidth video clips.
The app takes advantage of the Apple Notifications service supported by the device operating system, so that as new conference material is published, a pop-up note is pushed to the device alerting users of new content relevant to their discipline.
Overall opinion
I would give this free app a rating of four out of five, and recommend DNUK members download it to keep in touch of developments in their practice area. The app serves as a useful extension of an existing online service to a popular device platform – D4’s recent survey of mobile phone use by health professionals in the UK showed that almost 50 per cent of doctors are now using Apple devices (see www.d4.org.uk/research/ for more info).
