QuickEM vs gistalt
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
QuickEM
This emergency medicine reference app provides clinicians with instant access to critical information, including differentials, treatments, and validated medical calculators. It's designed for rapid lookup of ED-specific care, organized by chief complaints and clinical categories, and works completely offline.
- 80+ chief complaint topics
- 90+ medical calculators
- Offline access
- No login or ads
- Adult and pediatric coverage
- Evidence-based content
- Customizable favorites
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The Essential Emergency Medicine Reference Trusted by Clinicians QuickEM is the comprehensive bedside companion designed by emergency physicians for emergency physicians. Whether you're a medical student on your first ED rotation or an attending managing a busy department, QuickEM delivers the critical information you need—instantly. Built for Real Emergency Medicine • Over 80 chief complaint topics with differentials, history, tests, and treatments focused on ED-specific care • Over 90 validated medical calculators / tools • No login required • Zero fluff—only ED-relevant information Organized by How You Think • Chief complaints structured by presentation • Calculators grouped by clinical category • Smart search finds tools • Customizable favorites list for your go-to references Trusted by Every Level • Medical Students: Essential differentials and workup basics • Residents: Quick access to decision rules and scoring systems • Attendings: Rapid reference for less common presentations and 2nd brain refreshers Key Features: • Complete offline access—works without internet • No ads, no subscriptions, no account required • Covers adult and pediatric emergency medicine • Includes trauma protocols and resuscitation guides • Evidence-based content with source citations • Professional medical illustrations and ECG examples Content Highlights: • Cardiovascular: HEART Score, CHADS2-VASc, Wells Criteria • Neurological: NIHSS, Canadian Head CT Rules, HINTS Exam • Trauma: NEXUS, Canadian C-Spine, PECARN • Pediatrics: PEDS Vitals, Croup Score, Bronchiolitis • Toxicology: Rumack-Matthew, CIWA-Ar, Anion Gap • And more! Developed by practicing emergency physicians who understand what you need at 3 AM with multiple critical patients. QuickEM is designed to be the fastest way to look up the info you need. This app is designed exclusively for medical professionals and students. Not intended for patient or public use.
gistalt
This medical game challenges players to quickly assess patient acuity by swiping left for stable patients and right for those needing immediate intervention. It's designed to make training clinical impression skills engaging and fun.
- Patient acuity assessment
- Swipe-based gameplay
- Vital signs and lab results
- Imaging interpretation
- Performance scoring
- Regular content updates
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Your clinical impression (or "gestalt") about a patient's acuity is both critical and difficult to train. gistalt was designed to make it fun! Your goal playing gistalt is to accurately identify which patients are sick (requiring hospitalization or immediate interventions for stabilization) or not-sick (conditions that can be safely treated with outpatient follow-up). gistalt games are simple and fun. You'll start with a stack of patient presentations including vital signs, laboratory results and imaging. Swipe each card left (for not-sick) or right (for-sick) to see the next question. At the end of the stack, review your responses and see your score. Your gistalt score specially gauges your ability to detect the most critically-ill patients and institute the treatments that will make a difference. New questions are added regularly and don't require an app update.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is price: gistalt at Free against QuickEM's $9.99. gistalt also leads on in-app purchases (none vs 1) and rating (4.9 vs 4.6). QuickEM's advantage is update cadence (every 2 months vs every 22 months) and chart position (#94 vs unranked). On ratings volume, ads and device support 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
gistalt is free to download; QuickEM costs $9.99 up front. QuickEM sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. gistalt asks for nothing beyond the download.
gistalt holds the better App Store score, 4.9 against 4.6. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 10 and 16 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 91% of QuickEM's written reviews are positive against 100% of gistalt's.
QuickEM ships an update every 2 months, gistalt every 22 months. The most recent releases landed on October 8, 2026 and September 15, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | QuickEM | gistalt |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $9.99 | Free — better |
| Rating | 4.6 (10 ratings) | 4.9 (16 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 90.9% of reviews | 100.0% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 10 | 16 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 2 months — better | Every 22 months |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | No — better |
| Monetization | Paid | Free — better |
| Best chart rank | #94 — better | — |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better | iPhone, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 15.6 | 13.4 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 78 MB | 35 MB |
| Age rating | 17+ | 17+ |
| Developer | Dirkes Medical, PLLC | Tom Fadial |
Customer experience
QuickEM
gistalt
In-app purchases
QuickEM
- Premium Features$2.99
gistalt
No in-app purchases









