Exploring Essential Medicine app for iPhone and iPad

The medical conditions explored in this program are limited to the common (or important) conditions encountered by the target audience (hence the ‘essential’ component). It is not a reference text.

The emphasis is on learning by principles (deep learning) rather than reciting learned lists (superficial learning). These principles can be applied in many diverse situations without having to completely learn the facts of all related conditions.

This is how all medicine should be taught so that students are able to concentrate on what is important to them as a hospital doctor, rather than what is important to those in specialist training.

Having said that, there are situations when lists must be rote learned. Even here, the list should be clearly hierarchical, with emphasis on the common factors or those that may cause serious illness.