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Mankind has always been an explorer and discoverer of sorts. Challenge his / her wits, and surely sooner or later he/ she will come up with a solution of his / her choice. Long waiting periods, costly management, a battery of investigations, perhaps a long traveling and waiting time, a cumbersome and slow queue, repeated consultations and consultations from doctors dealing with separate branches of medical sciences, that possibly gives rise to fragmented care, etc, are some of the problems that the general population and specially those who are not adequately covered by health insurance may be up against at times. Then there can be issues like not really wanting to go and consult a doctor at that particular time (or to that doctor), and maybe at some convenient time later on, or maybe looking for information about certain issues that one may not want to reveal for whatever reason; and then such issues like having to seek opinions from multiple specialists, and so on, whatever.
We doctors aren’t so perfect, or are we? We do keep hearing randomly about inadvertent mistakes, don’t we? As such we have many stake holders in medical care and management, and many others are trying to jump on into the bandwagon to be able to prescribe and treat. To us all this is already somewhat confusing. Adding to this is the explosion of information, opinions, right or wrong, and some intelligently camouflaged advertisements that cleverly skirt and evade trampling upon the medical ethics which restrains doctors from self-advertisement. While on this, in a way we feel strongly that when a few are already getting away easily from being quizzed or stopped for breaking the ethics despite their advertisements, whether done by them covertly, or by the institutions, hospitals or nursing homes, etc where they work or are associated with in any manner, this restriction should be done away with so for the sake of fair-play, thereby equalizing the balance that might have been tilted elsewhere in this competitive world.
The symptom checker is not for the triage alone, and that we must all understand. It can also help a doctor in times of need. Thinking from a patient’s perspective who does not have medical insurance, and who doesn’t know where to go, computerized symptom checker can come quite handy. It can be quite useful for people staying in wilderness or far flung areas, or during odd hours when care or help nearby is not available. Why forget that these days one can also order medicines online from the comfort of his/her home or place of work, and we presume that this practice is perhaps quite prevalent these days. One can also pick up OTC drugs from any friendly store next door. All this does take away lots of inconvenience that a patient, or his /her care givers might have to face otherwise. And quite frankly not every medical problem is serious. For the problems considered or appearing serious, most of the people are prudent enough to judge the condition and act accordingly. For serious conditions and for emergency, a rapid check online or with available software for symptom checker can actually turn out to be very useful (only if accuracy is ensured). All available treatment options can also be incorporated in the softwares for patient awareness.
Can’t say that all these softwares are 100 percent reliable, but then these definitely can be improved, and can be made more reliable and accurate by the world health bodies, the governments, and the NGOs. Surely we do think that accurate information may prove out to be much better than to be landing up at some wrong door steps. It can be so helpful if the patient can discuss whatever information he / she has collected about the problem. The governments, policy makers, administrators, etc, will have to ensure that there is no cheating or misguidance online, and it might further help if a round the clock team (7 X 24 x 30) of verified experts is available to help those seeking out help or information online. Let’s genuinely think of helping patients all around the world who are not so sick as to be visiting a hospital or a clinic. Let us provide them ways and means to be reasonably sure online that it is not an emergency, or if it indeed is an emergency. Let the experts try doing away with confusions and in removing the errors and in filling up the gaps wherever they are so as to make the software reliably accurate, thereby making the life easy, safe and secure for a patient. Give the patients this handy and essential tool. Such symptom checker softwares should be made available in all major dialects, and tested randomly for any inaccuracies by experts. We guess that possibly it’s 'The BMJ' that can really help strike the right note for patients.
Best regards.
Competing interests:
These are our personal views, and do not convey or have any bearing whatsoever of any organization that we are associated or affiliated to.
14 July 2015
Dr (Lt Col) Rajesh Chauhan
Consultant Family Medicine
Dr Ajay Kumar Singh Parihar, Dr Shruti Chauhan.
Honorary National Professor IMA CGP, INDIA.
"Family Healthcare Centre", Sector 6 - B (HIG) / 152, Facing Central Park, Main Road, Avas Vikas Colony Sikandra, AGRA -282007. INDIA.
Let's genuinely think of helping patients & provide them access to reliable and accurate symptom checker
Dear Editor,
Mankind has always been an explorer and discoverer of sorts. Challenge his / her wits, and surely sooner or later he/ she will come up with a solution of his / her choice. Long waiting periods, costly management, a battery of investigations, perhaps a long traveling and waiting time, a cumbersome and slow queue, repeated consultations and consultations from doctors dealing with separate branches of medical sciences, that possibly gives rise to fragmented care, etc, are some of the problems that the general population and specially those who are not adequately covered by health insurance may be up against at times. Then there can be issues like not really wanting to go and consult a doctor at that particular time (or to that doctor), and maybe at some convenient time later on, or maybe looking for information about certain issues that one may not want to reveal for whatever reason; and then such issues like having to seek opinions from multiple specialists, and so on, whatever.
We doctors aren’t so perfect, or are we? We do keep hearing randomly about inadvertent mistakes, don’t we? As such we have many stake holders in medical care and management, and many others are trying to jump on into the bandwagon to be able to prescribe and treat. To us all this is already somewhat confusing. Adding to this is the explosion of information, opinions, right or wrong, and some intelligently camouflaged advertisements that cleverly skirt and evade trampling upon the medical ethics which restrains doctors from self-advertisement. While on this, in a way we feel strongly that when a few are already getting away easily from being quizzed or stopped for breaking the ethics despite their advertisements, whether done by them covertly, or by the institutions, hospitals or nursing homes, etc where they work or are associated with in any manner, this restriction should be done away with so for the sake of fair-play, thereby equalizing the balance that might have been tilted elsewhere in this competitive world.
The symptom checker is not for the triage alone, and that we must all understand. It can also help a doctor in times of need. Thinking from a patient’s perspective who does not have medical insurance, and who doesn’t know where to go, computerized symptom checker can come quite handy. It can be quite useful for people staying in wilderness or far flung areas, or during odd hours when care or help nearby is not available. Why forget that these days one can also order medicines online from the comfort of his/her home or place of work, and we presume that this practice is perhaps quite prevalent these days. One can also pick up OTC drugs from any friendly store next door. All this does take away lots of inconvenience that a patient, or his /her care givers might have to face otherwise. And quite frankly not every medical problem is serious. For the problems considered or appearing serious, most of the people are prudent enough to judge the condition and act accordingly. For serious conditions and for emergency, a rapid check online or with available software for symptom checker can actually turn out to be very useful (only if accuracy is ensured). All available treatment options can also be incorporated in the softwares for patient awareness.
Can’t say that all these softwares are 100 percent reliable, but then these definitely can be improved, and can be made more reliable and accurate by the world health bodies, the governments, and the NGOs. Surely we do think that accurate information may prove out to be much better than to be landing up at some wrong door steps. It can be so helpful if the patient can discuss whatever information he / she has collected about the problem. The governments, policy makers, administrators, etc, will have to ensure that there is no cheating or misguidance online, and it might further help if a round the clock team (7 X 24 x 30) of verified experts is available to help those seeking out help or information online. Let’s genuinely think of helping patients all around the world who are not so sick as to be visiting a hospital or a clinic. Let us provide them ways and means to be reasonably sure online that it is not an emergency, or if it indeed is an emergency. Let the experts try doing away with confusions and in removing the errors and in filling up the gaps wherever they are so as to make the software reliably accurate, thereby making the life easy, safe and secure for a patient. Give the patients this handy and essential tool. Such symptom checker softwares should be made available in all major dialects, and tested randomly for any inaccuracies by experts. We guess that possibly it’s 'The BMJ' that can really help strike the right note for patients.
Best regards.
Competing interests: These are our personal views, and do not convey or have any bearing whatsoever of any organization that we are associated or affiliated to.