SymptomMD 2.6

With the right app, your iPhone can be a good replacement for a lot of things, including a physician. Say you managed to hurt yourself doing something and you don’t know what to do about it. You could take a trip to the doctor’s office, or you could take out your iPhone and let it give you a helping hand.

Your iPhone can prove to be useful if it has the right app installed – which in this situation is the Self Care Decisions-developed SymptomMD. This handy and easy to use app will provide you with guidance on a lot of health-related topics. It will tell you what to do based on the symptoms you show, and it will do this in three easy steps:

Step 1 – Choose the most appropriate symptom care guide.
Step 2 – Use the symptom decision chart to find the recommended action.
Step 3 – Follow the self care advice to manage minor illnesses and injuries at home.

The emphasis falls on minor illnesses and minor injuries. Sure, this app is user friendly and is chuck-full of useful medical advice – for medical issues that can be treated at home. If you sustained a major injury or if you’re seriously ill, go to the doctor’s office, or call an ambulance. And speaking of which, the nice thing is that the app comes with a handy way to call 911, your doctor, your child’s doctor or nearby emergency department.

Here’s an example of how the functionality this app provides can come in handy. It’s the weekend, your pediatrician went on a weekend getaway, and your little one has a sore throat. By using the SymptomMD app you can assess how serious the situation is and you can find out how to treat your little one at home. Or say your little one has a rash and you don’t know if it’s serious or not. You can use the app to identify the type of rash and learn how to treat it yourself.

How can I describe this app, in a short sentence? It’s like having a doctor with you all the time, a doctor who’s advice you can access by simply taking out your iPhone. This app is a must have for concerned parents and anyone who needs advice on how to treat minor illnesses and injuries at home.

Pros

• Easy to use
• A lot of useful medical information
• Child dosage tables
• Images to help you identify symptoms, injuries and common causes of bites and stings
• First aid illustrations
• Connections to 911 or a doctor
• Derived from the clinical protocols used by pediatricians and nurses in 10,000 practices and 400 nurse advice call centers in the US and Canada

Cons

• None that I could think of

Additional information on SymptomMD is available here.