Buku Medicine was created 3 years ago as Buku Haematology, written by a haematology registrar (Alex) and consultant (Steve) as an easy and quick reference for the initial investigation and management of common haematology problems. 'Buku' is the Chichewa word for book or reference. Chichewa is spoken in Malawi where Steve travels every year pathology project MPathE is running. 

We made it to answer the commonest questions that haematologists are asked, and through that, improve patient care, educate our users and hopefully remove some of the fear usually associated with haematology. It is for all grades of generalist and specialist doctors, specialist nurses, physician assistants and has links to key references and guidelines.

Buku Medicine aims to avoid referrals to specialists that can be avoided, and to expedite care for those that are referred to improve workload for all clinicians in an increasingly busy workplace. We also hope to improve patient care and safety by reducing calls to the specialist on-call team as calls can distract from other tasks.

This model has had excellent feedback and continues to grow (over 17,000 downloads, installed on clinician devices in two NHS trusts and ORCHA approved). We have now started to apply this model to other specialties and have added Renal and Endocrinology content to the App. We will continue to expand this to other specialties over the coming months.