Radiology educators at UBC recently launched a mobile app for learning radiology called the UBC Radiology Teaching App. This app, which is free for download in both the Apple and Google Play app stores (www.ubcradiologyapp.ca [9]), is designed for medical trainees and medical professionals to increase their confidence in identifying normal anatomic structures, ordering the most appropriate imaging test, and recognizing common pathology. 

This app was developed entirely in-house at UBC by a team of faculty, residents, and medical students. It is designed to engage the user with over 500 anatomy questions featuring X-ray, CT, MRI, and ultrasound images; over 60 fully worked clinical cases; comprehensive approaches for reading images; and quizzes designed to teach imaging appropriateness. The clinical cases include scrollable data-sets and detailed case descriptions that include the differential diagnosis, diagnosis, and findings. The clinical details of the cases are vivid and each case contains a “clinical pearls” section to relate the imaging to clinical practice. 

The app developers wanted to create a resource that was in line with current pedagogy and that provided high-quality teaching material to learners worldwide. With the increased use of medical imaging in clinical practice, it can be challenging to find resources that are reasonably priced, peer reviewed, and appropriate for general practitioners. Since its launch, the app has been downloaded all over the world, including in resource-poor regions.

—Kathryn Darras, MD, FRCPC
University of British Columbia