Comparison

SimShockPad vs EMS Pathfinder

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

SimShockPad

This interactive simulator trains users to manage critical hemodynamic situations like heart failure, bleeding, and septic shock. Make rapid, accurate decisions under pressure using a variety of therapies and advanced treatments to keep patients alive.

Highlights
  • Three pathological modes (heart failure, bleeding, sepsis)
  • Seven combinable therapies with dose-dependent effects
  • Advanced treatments for specific conditions
  • Multiparameter real-time monitoring
  • Adjustable difficulty and game speed
  • Multilingual interface
  • Compatible with iPhone, iPad, and macOS
Features
Read full description

SimShock is a hemodynamic simulation game. It is not a teaching or instructional tool, nor is it a clinical simulator. Think of it as a home flight simulator: true to the spirit, carefully made, but still a game. One critically ill patient, vital signs changing in real time, and very little room for error. The patient may arrive with heart failure, massive hemorrhage, septic shock or an arrhythmia. Each condition behaves differently, and what saves one patient can sink another. NEW HEMODYNAMIC ENGINE A new model links heart rate, stroke volume, cardiac output and vascular resistance to filling pressures. The baroreflex has two arms and can become exhausted, each patient has an individual sensitivity to each drug, and infusions have a therapeutic window: inside it they do their job; outside it, they do something else. No drug has a hard ceiling — if you overdo it, you will see the consequences. Real physiology is far more complicated. Many rules have been deliberately simplified to make the game playable. THE THREE SCREENS · Monitor — real-time ECG and pulse waveform, with systolic pressure, heart rate and venous pressure shown in traffic-light colors. Ventricular and supraventricular arrhythmias may develop spontaneously during a case. · Hemodynamics — cardiac output, cardiac index, vascular resistance, capillary and pulmonary pressures, stroke volume, blood volume and ventricular work, displayed as either values or a profile. · Trends — 1-, 5- and 10-minute evolution with an event log: this is where you can see exactly where the game went wrong. ACTION BUTTONS · Norepinephrine — at high doses, increased resistance chokes the ventricle: capillary pressure rises and cardiac output falls. · Dobutamine — increases cardiac output without increasing blood pressure. At high doses: tachycardia and hypotension. · Dopamine — above 20 µg/kg/min it irritates the ventricle: ectopic beats after ten seconds, ventricular tachycardia after twenty-five. · Nitroglycerin — unloads the lungs quickly, and can take the blood pressure down with it if the patient has little to spare. · Furosemide — makes a difference in the fluid-overloaded patient, not in the dry one, no matter how high you turn it up. · Saline and transfusion — finite bags: every milliliter counts. · Antibiotics — three regimens and one source of infection. Only the regimen that covers it works, and the infection itself must be controlled (Infection Control button). · Antiarrhythmics — adenosine, diltiazem, esmolol, propranolol, procainamide and amiodarone. · Defibrillator, non-invasive ventilation and transfer to intensive care. · Transfusion — transfusing alone is not enough: the bleeding must also be controlled (Bleeding Control button). THE CONTROLS · Notes — the assistant tells you what the patient still needs to become stable. · The doctor — tap to switch between a male and female doctor. If things go wrong, the expression changes. · Events — a log of what you did and when. · Pause — freezes time. Speed makes it run faster or slower. · Difficulty — changes how the patient evolves, not the reference ranges. · Arrhythmias — from off to a randomized 30% probability, or automatic according to difficulty. · Patient — variable or standard. Switch it off if you want reproducible games. · Random — hides the condition name and switches off the traffic lights: you have to read the numbers. · Exam — ten consecutive cases with scoring. · Cockpit — switches between the classic interface and the command-station view without losing the current game. · Language, Instructions and volume from 0 to 100 next to the clock, with a separate mute control. NOTICE SimShock is a game that represents pathophysiological situations in a simplified way. It is not an educational tool or a clinical guide, and it does not provide medical advice or recommendations. Always consult healthcare professionals.

About

EMS Pathfinder

This medical reference app provides EMS professionals and students with offline access to protocols, medications, and clinical tools. It features interactive flowcharts, a searchable drug index, and various assessment scales, all designed for quick access on mobile devices.

Highlights
  • Offline access to protocols and medications
  • Interactive flowcharts and algorithms
  • Searchable drug index with dosing calculators
  • Clinical assessment scales (GCS, APGAR, etc.)
  • CPR timer and incident tracker
  • Hospital Finder tool
Features
Read full description

EMS Pathfinder is the all-in-one field companion for EMS professionals and students. Protocols, medications, and clinical tools — all in a single download, all available offline, all designed for the screen in your hand. --- WHAT YOU GET --- PROTOCOLS THAT WORK LIKE AN APP, NOT A PDF • Mobile-native layouts • Tap any medication, tool, or referenced protocol to jump straight to it • Step-through interactive flowcharts and algorithms • Full-text smart search with highlighted matches across every protocol • Favorite the protocols you reach for most MEDICATION REFERENCE BUILT FOR THE FIELD • Searchable drug index with indications, contraindications, mechanism, and dosing • Fully cross-linked: get med info from protocol screens and relevant protocols from med screens • Integrated dosage, volume, and infusion rate calculators built from YOUR protocols CLINICAL TOOLS & FLOWSHEETS • CPR timer and activity log, incident/call times tracker, oxygen tank duration • GCS, APGAR, Cincinnati, BEFAST, RACE and other stroke scales, and more • Hospital Finder with capability filters (available in select states, more coming soon!) OFFLINE-FIRST. ALWAYS. Every protocol, medication, calculator, and tool is cached on your device the first time you select your state/organization. You'll never have to hunt for signal to keep your app working. Additional organizations are downloaded automatically as you access them, and can be managed manually from the app's settings. --- HOW IT WORKS --- Public protocols are available for free to all users. We currently support 15+ statewide protocol sets and a handful of regional sets, with more being added regularly. If your protocols aren't in our list yet, send us a request! EMS agencies/organizations may partner with us to provide their own protocols, tools, and other custom content. If one or more of your organizations are on EMS Pathfinder, you can access them by entering an access code or logging in with a user account. Contact your administrator for instructions. --- A NOTE ON SAFETY --- EMS Pathfinder is a reference and educational tool. It does not replace medical direction, your agency's standard operating guidelines, or your clinical judgment. Always verify medication concentrations on the packaging and confirm doses are within local protocol limits before administration. While we make every effort to keep public protocol sets up to date, there is always the possibility that our version will become outdated. We provide the source date of publish and date updated in the app for reference. Always verify with your state's authority and with local medical direction. ------ Questions, feedback, or want to see your state's protocols added? Visit emspathfinderapp.com or use the in-app feedback button.

Screenshots

SimShockPad4 screens
EMS Pathfinder4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: EMS Pathfinder at 5.0 against SimShockPad's 1.0. EMS Pathfinder also leads on ratings volume (5 vs 1) and iOS requirement (15.1 vs 17.6). SimShockPad's advantage is update cadence (weekly vs every 5 weeks). On price, ads, in-app purchases and monetization model there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

EMS Pathfinder holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 1.0. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: EMS Pathfinder has 5 ratings behind it against 1, so its average is the more settled of the two.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

SimShockPad ships an update weekly, EMS Pathfinder every 5 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 10, 2026 and October 9, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard4 real differences · 6 level
SimShockPad versus EMS Pathfinder: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterSimShockPadEMS Pathfinder
PriceFreeFree
Rating1.0 (1 ratings)5.0 (5 ratings) — better
Positive reviews0.0% of reviews—
Number of ratings15 — better
Update frequencyWeekly — betterEvery 5 weeks
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFreeFree
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad, iPod — better
Requires iOS17.615.1 — better
Further details — not scored
Size136 MB61 MB
Age rating17+17+
DeveloperPablo Kessler SaizFULLCODE LLC

Customer experience

SimShockPad

All ratings1 ratings
Positive0.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative100.0%
Written reviews1 reviews
Positive0.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative100.0%

EMS Pathfinder

All ratings3 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

In-app purchases

None

SimShockPad

No in-app purchases

None

EMS Pathfinder

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is SimShockPad free?
SimShockPad is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is EMS Pathfinder free?
EMS Pathfinder is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, SimShockPad or EMS Pathfinder?
EMS Pathfinder is rated higher. SimShockPad averages 1.0 out of 5 from 1 ratings, while EMS Pathfinder averages 5.0 from 5 ratings.
Do SimShockPad or EMS Pathfinder have ads?
Neither SimShockPad nor EMS Pathfinder shows ads.
Which is updated more often, SimShockPad or EMS Pathfinder?
SimShockPad ships an update weekly, and EMS Pathfinder every 5 weeks. Most recently, SimShockPad was updated on October 10, 2026 and EMS Pathfinder on October 9, 2026.

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