Minimum requirements: Windows 3.1 or 95, CD‐ROM drive, 640 x 480 256 color monitor, 10 MB disk space. Macintosh: System 7.1 or higher, same resolution and disk requirements
The Pocket Guide to ECG Diagnosis and Self‐Assessment CD‐ROM follows a standard Windows installation procedure and includes an uninstall program. It contains the full text of Dr. Edward K. Chung’s paperback book of the same title plus 1000+ diagrams for self‐assessment. The guide “describes every known ECG abnormality and cardiac arrhythmias with a practical and clinical approach” (from the publisher’s web page). There are sixteen chapters on the CD, including Chamber Enlargement, Myocardial Ischemia, Injury and Infarction, A‐V Block, and others. The self‐assessments include Dr. Chung’s diagnosis for comparison to the user’s. The CD‐ROM main menu contains links for Dr. Chung’s Guide, Self Assessment, Random Self Assessment, Search Database, and About This CD.
The CD comes with a fold out quick guide, in the case, and a complete guide (How to Use This CD‐ROM) on the CD.
The Dr. Chung’s Guide section of this program contains the complete text of the guide. The sixteen chapters, plus an introduction, are listed on the opening table of contents. Clicking once on a chapter takes the user to the text. Within the text are links to other chapters, figures, and tables. The first time I linked to a figure of an ECG, I wasn’t sure how to get back. There is no help or indication of any kind on the screen. The reason I had a problem was that the mouse pointer had changed to a very small icon that totally blended into the graphic being displayed. Finally, a single mouse click returned me to the text. In Chapter Five, there is a link to Table 5.1. The entire table does not display on the screen; and there is no way to scroll down to view the rest.
Users cannot print entire chapters directly from the CD. The standard cut and paste Windows options can be used to print selected parts. However, the program that will be used to paste text into must be open prior to the Guide being started. On a Windows 95 system, the user is blocked from getting to the Start menu. The Alt‐Tab combination must be used to toggle between programs.
At program startup, the user is prompted to enter a name for a profile that keeps information about the user such as chapters read and personal notes. Notes are input by clicking on the solid bar to the left of the text. However, the user must read the online help file to even know this feature exists.
The Self Assessment section allows the user to choose a series of ECGs on a topic from a list and compare his or her diagnosis with that of Dr. Chung. The user can then score how well the diagnoses matched on a scale of totally accurate to incorrect diagnosis. There are links in Dr. Chung’s diagnoses to take the user back to the text of the guide that discusses the particular problem. A back button at the top of the screen returns to the assessment screen. By returning to the Self Assessment Contents screen, the user can see a listing for the number of questions answered and an average score. The user navigates the self assessment section by using the score, diagnosis, back, and next buttons. The Random Self Assessment works very similarly to the previous section except that the ECGs are selected at random as opposed to user selected. The user can also use the search facility to select ECGs for diagnosis.
The Search feature allows the user to search either the Guide Text, Assessment Text, or both. Searches can be limited by case sensitivity, whole words, and the Boolean AND operator. Once a search is complete, the user is presented with a hyperlinked list of results. Clicking once on a link goes to the requested material. The results screen appears behind the search screen. Clicking once on an icon in the lower right of the search screen minimizes that screen. Once again, the user has to figure this out.
The “Hold Shift‐ESC to Stop Search” message appears at the top of the screen. I had mixed results using this function. The first time I tried it, the program stopped execution. The next time, the hour glass icon remained on the screen; but the searching ceased (I think). When I tried to click on a link, the program crashed again. The third time I searched, the shift‐ESC function worked. However, I had no results listed at the time and was unable to enter a new term without exiting the function and returning. While the program allows me to cut and paste into another document, I was not able to cut and paste from any on‐screen text into the Search Phrase box. When searching both the text and assessments, the list can be quite long. There is no indication on the screen as to how many “hits” the search retrieved.
Dr. Chung’s Gude to ECG Diagnosis & Self Assessment is still in version 1.0. This may explain some of the problems I encountered. There certainly should have been more testing done prior to release. Given the cost of this CD, I cannot recommend its use at this time.
