(this is a guest post from DigitalNeurosurgeon.com, slightly modified for Surgical Neurology International) The Brain Trauma Foundation has created and published guidelines on the treatment of brain trauma a few years ago. The Guidelines for the Surgical Management of Traumatic Brain Injury are available as PDF and in a searchable online format. What lacks, is the availability on a mobile platform, preferably as an interactive decision support system (like their Head Injury Prognosis calculator). Seems an excellent topic for NeuroMind 2 (appears in Q1-2012). Approach The guidelines are text-based, no flowcharts have been provided. This makes direct implementation of the guidelines in an app difficult, as I think I need to make clear what algorithm is used in the app. In the end, if you intend to use it to make decisions, you need to be able to check the algorithm in case you want to. So here is the 1-2-3 of converting a text-based guideline into an application:

1. Read the text of the guidelines (or in this case: the Recommendations)
2. Create a flowchart from the text
3. Build the app based on the flowchart

I will explain more about the symbols that are used in the flowchart in a separate topic. Until then, this Open Course Ware tutorial gives you a nice introduction. Epidural hematoma Now here is the flowchart I created:

And here is a screenshot of the app:

For some more details and screenshots, click here. Pieter Kubben Information Technology editor Surgical Neurology International