Comparison

The Chief Complaint vs ABEM Online

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

Head to head
About

The Chief Complaint

This emergency medicine guide offers an algorithmic approach to over 50 common complaints. It provides decision support, links to medical resources, and includes a drug guide and calculators. A clinical community forum is also available for collaboration.

Highlights
  • Algorithmic approach to common ER complaints
  • Clinical decision support algorithms
  • Links to medical resources (PubMed, EM:RAP, etc.)
  • Emergency medicine drug guide
  • Medical calculators and scores
  • ESCAVO Clinical Community forum
Features
Read full description

The Chief Complaint app now includes access the new ESCAVO Clinical Community, a forum where clinicians can exchange ideas, ask questions and collaborate on sepsis and other clinical topics. How would you like to walk into the ER confident that you knew what to do, no matter what comes through the door? The Chief Complaint app uses an algorithmic approach to over 50 of the most common complaints encountered in emergency medicine. Never feel lost or overwhelmed again, not knowing what the next step in the work-up is. Not sure what tests to order or if the patient can go home? The Chief Complaint helps you answer all those questions and more! - Algorithm based approach to the most common emergency medicine complaints - Based on the #1 bestselling emergency medicine clinical guide "The Chief Complaint" - Used by the residents of LA County + USC emergency medicine program, one of the top emergency medicine programs in the world - Color coded by organ system for easy navigation - Exhaustively referenced to the most important studies and articles in emergency medicine (over 400 citations!) with direct links to PubMed abstracts for easy access to original sources - Over 60 high resolution clinical management and decision support algorithms - Direct subject-specific links to EM:RAP, Essentials of Emergency Medicine and theNNT.com for further resources and deeper dives on all subjects - Journal club feature allows you to dive deeper into the evidence basis of your decisions - Peer reviewed by leading physicians in emergency medicine - Important medical calculators and scores commonly used in the ER - Emergency medicine drug guide easily accessible right from the content pages - All content, including treatment algorithms, is built-in, network access is only required for content updates - Automatic content updating keeps app's contents constantly up to date free of charge The Chief Complaint is an invaluable resource for doctors, residents, medical students, nurses and other healthcare professionals working in emergency medicine and other acute care settings. Please send your feedback, questions or bug reports to info@escavo.com, we'd love to hear from you! Reviews: "The Chief Complaint is simply indispensable, carry it with me every shift. Excellent algorithms, concise, practical, clinically relevant explanations citing the current best-evidence for management decisions; without doubt Chief Complaint it is THE pocket Emergency Medicine reference to have with you at the bedside." -Manuel Montano, MD, PGY-3, LAC+USC EM Residency "...is really top notch. I really like how it organizes complaints in a flow pattern type way. This has allowed me to quickly adjust my decision making and makes it actually useful when I feel super pressured at work. The further detail located later has been helpful to one, get some good initial learning in and two, look to the resources cited for more in depth discussion." -David Benaron, UCSD Resident "Chief complaint is AWESOME...I think every single intern in the country should have one of these...SO COOL!" -James Grieme, UCSD Resident "The aptly named Chief Complaint is simply excellent. I really like the way it is laid out by cc and it's concise enough to be useful on a regular basis. I take it with me to every shift and would highly recommend it to anyone looking for a streamlined, functional, real-time guide for working up patients in the ED" -Nick Aldridge, UCSD Resident "... really something totally new in the medical education world. This app does something many have tried to do but few have achieved, which is to create an orienteering guide to the med-ed landscape while launching your thought processes AT THE BEDSIDE when confronted with a new undifferentiated and undiagnosed patient." -William "Billy" Mallon MD, Foreword

About

ABEM Online

Read full description

The American Board of Emergency Medicine (ABEM) is one of 24 medical specialty certification boards recognized by the American Board of Medical Specialties. ABEM certifies emergency physicians who meet its educational, professional standing, and examination standards. ABEM certification is sought and earned by emergency physicians on a voluntary basis; ABEM is not a membership association. ABEM develops and administers an In-training Examination (ITE). It is offered annually on the last Wednesday in February to all ACGME-accredited and RCPSC-accredited Emergency Medicine residency programs for a small fee. Programs are not required to participate in this examination. The examination targets the expected knowledge base and experience of an EM3 resident. Unlike other ABEM examinations, the ITE does not have a passing score. It is a standardized examination that residents and program faculty can use to judge an individual resident’s progress toward successful ABEM certification. There is a strong relationship between the ITE and Qualifying Examination scores. Physicians with higher ITE scores have a higher likelihood of passing the Qualifying Examination and those with lower scores have a lower likelihood of passing the Qualifying Examination. The examination is not designed for program evaluation, and the results should not be used to compare programs or residents across programs.

Screenshots

The Chief Complaint4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is device support: The Chief Complaint at 3 against ABEM Online's 1. ABEM Online's advantage is iOS requirement (9.3 vs 11.0). On price, update cadence, ads and in-app purchases 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.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

The Chief Complaint ships an update every 9 months, ABEM Online every 7 months. The most recent releases landed on July 17, 2026 and September 7, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard2 real differences · 8 level
The Chief Complaint versus ABEM Online: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterThe Chief ComplaintABEM Online
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.8 (649 ratings) — better
Positive reviews88.0% of reviews
Number of ratings649 — better
Update frequencyEvery 9 monthsEvery 7 months — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFree
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — betteriPad
Requires iOS11.09.3 — better
Further details — not scored
Size157 MB6 MB
Age rating17+4+
DeveloperEscavo, IncInternet Testing Systems (ITS)

Bugs and requests

The Chief Complaint

Reported bugs

1 issue
  • App crashes when deleting bookmarks

Requested features

3 requests
  • iPad landscape orientation support
  • Additional drug information in complaint categories
  • Expanded content for OB/GYN and toxicology sections

ABEM Online

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

None

The Chief Complaint

No in-app purchases

None

ABEM Online

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is The Chief Complaint free?
The Chief Complaint is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is ABEM Online free?
ABEM Online is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do The Chief Complaint or ABEM Online have ads?
Neither The Chief Complaint nor ABEM Online shows ads.
Which is updated more often, The Chief Complaint or ABEM Online?
The Chief Complaint ships an update every 9 months, and ABEM Online every 7 months. Most recently, The Chief Complaint was updated on July 17, 2026 and ABEM Online on September 7, 2026.

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