September 2010 Pocket Anatomy Launches Full Body App on the App Store

Pocket Anatomy, a Galway-Mayo Institute of Technology campus-based company, has launched Pocket Body - the latest application (app) for medical students and other health care professionals on Apple's App Store. This medical software, featuring comprehensive human musculoskeletal anatomy content by means of a multi-layered sequence of high-definition photo-realistic illustrations of the human body, is a breakthrough in human anatomy education. Pocket Body was developed in conjunction with the College of Medicine and Health Sciences at NUI Galway. Pocket Body features a fully anatomically accurate human character with nine layers of musculoskeletal content, enabling the user to navigate from the skin layer through the superficial to deep musculature, and on through to ligaments and the skeleton. In each layer, structures are pinned for identification and associated with each pin is additional concise relevant information including clinical notes. All of the information is presented in an interactive, mobile and accessible format which takes full use of the features of the device on which the app runs (iPhone, iPad or iTouch). This is a marked contrast with the two-dimensional (2D) printed pictures and diagrams commonly used in the teaching of advanced human anatomy today. Additional features allow the user to make learning notes as they progress through the learning content, and also utilize the built-in quizzes as a self-test capability to assist in their learning and exam preparation. Pocket Body will assist medical and other health care students gain a deep understanding of human musculoskeletal anatomy and assist in examination preparation. By making comprehensive human musculoskeletal anatomy content available on demand it will also act as a continuing anatomy resource throughout their degree programme, and as a reference on into the professional workplace. Dr Brendan Wilkins, an anatomy lecturer based in the NUI Galway's College of Medicine and Health Sciences worked on the development of Pocket Body with a team of third and fourth year medical students and together they specified and wrote all of the content within the app. Combined with the software design expertise of Pocket Anatomy, the result is an innovative and exciting app which will serve as a supplement to the lectures, classes and complementary texts used by the medical and health care student and provide a detailed source of human anatomical content, on demand, through the student's own portable device. Mark Campbell, CEO of eMedia and creators of Pocket Anatomy says: "We are excited with the launch of Pocket Body, which has been co-developed by medical students for medical students. This new software enables medical students to visualise complex anatomical structures in a novel format, thereby assisting students to gain a deep understanding of the human musculoskeletal system through the use of interactive high definition photo-realistic illustrations of the human body.As medical students and educators continue to embrace new technologies in their teaching and learning practices, Pocket Anatomy will continue to push the boundaries in the use of new technologies for the purposes of medical education". "This project demonstrates how SME s can leverage local academic expertise within Universities and IoT s to accelerate the product development cycle" said Mark Campbell. Pocket Body is now available for the iPad, iPhone and iTouch. To purchase and download Pocket Body please visit: http://www.PocketAnatomy.com/iTunes.php. -Ends-