I don’t do gross and there’s a reason I didn’t go to medical school. But anyone who is interested in the art of disease identification, either for fun or for professional reasons, should find Epocrates’ Diagnose The Disease informational or maybe even fun.
Launch the app and tap play game (you can increase the difficulty level by tapping “I”). The app slowly reveals a photo (some were stomach turning, at least for me) while a timer counts down. Three disease or ailment choices will be displayed and the goal is to select the correct answer as quickly as possible. The game ends after five rounds and your score is displayed alongside the three top scores of the week. If you have a particularly good score, you can enter it to win a subscription to the Epocrates Essentials reference guide.
Believe me, I could have lived a full life without knowing what the symptoms of acute varicella-zoster or bullous pemphigod look like up close. However, for clinicians, medical students or lovers of the macabre, Diagnose The Disease is likely to be a useful addition to their iPhone or iPod touch app libraries.
