Smart Phones can now help patients make smarter decisions about getting health care

by Ravi K. Raheja, M.D.
CEO and Co-founder, TriageLogic

Many patients have concerns about health related symptoms after their doctor’s offices are closed for the day. Until recently—the only options were for the patients to call their doctor and wait for a call back—or go to an urgent care center or ER. 

SymptomMD and KidsDoc are mobile applications designed to leverage existing smart phone technology. They are symptom checkers, available on iTunes and the Android Market, to help patients determine how urgently they or a loved one should seek medical attention (if at all) and what steps can be taken in the meantime for symptom relief.

The application uses the symptom care guides derived from the telephone protocols used by more than 400 hospital- and health plan-based nurse advice lines and by 90% of pediatric practices. They have been tested on over 150 million symptom calls. The authors of the protocols—Doctors Schmitt and Thompson—have dedicated more than 30 years to the development of world-class decision support content.

The app provides several important advancements in telephone triage by:

• educating and empowering patients
• helping patients utilize medical resources appropriately
• providing immediate access to reliable information

To see this exciting app in action please go to http://www.symptommd.com/demos.htm