It’s 2 a.m., you’ve been coughing all night and you are pretty sure you’ve developed a fever. You don’t feel sick enough for a trip to the ER, you don’t have the energy to navigate your healthcare provider’s telephone triage voice mail loop, but you’d still like some advice.
Consider a visit to Everyday Health and their new Symptom Checker. Onto your screen will pop Stephen Schueler, M.D., an emergency physician who created this online tool. He’ll explain, via the magic of online video, that he’s going to ask you questions about your symptoms. This, says Marjorie L. Matin, Senior Vice President and General Manager of the site, makes the tool feel a bit similar to being interviewed by a doctor.
Matin is quick to add that, just like a real doctor, the symptom checker is interactive. So rather than just a standard set of questions, it asks each question based on your response to the previous question. “It will rule out something and start to pursue other possibilities,” says Matin. And it doesn’t ask just about symptoms. The video version of Dr. Schueler also inquires about your personal and family medical history – something most similar tools on the Web don’t do. “That can make a huge difference in the level of urgency around something,” Matin says. For instance, chest pains are much more urgent in someone with a history of heart disease than in someone with a history of acid reflux.
Unlike an in-person physician, however, the video Dr. Schueler won’t offer you a diagnosis. Instead, once all his questions are answered, he will point out a few things that might be wrong and tell you what you should do – call 9-1-1, seek immediate medical care, see your doctor soon, or care for yourself at home and get medical attention if your symptoms don’t resolve in a certain period of time. This way, you’ve got a plan of action and probably some peace of mind. “People are understandably somewhat emotional about their health,” says Matin. “If it’s happening to you at 2 in the morning, it’s a crisis.”
The Symptom Checker is a relatively new feature of the Everyday Health site, which is celebrating its third birthday this month. And the site itself looks to be a high-quality portal of health information. The content – except for blogs and community discussion – is either created by the site’s staff of seasoned health journalists (all with impressive credentials) and expert sources, or licensed from vetted health sources such as Harvard University.
And the site is easy to use. Sign up (it’s free) and you can create your own “home page” that pulls in info on topics of interest to you – from specific diseases and conditions like arthritis or diabetes, to broader areas such as children’s health or nutrition. You can also sign up for a plethora of topical email newsletters, and use tools such as the Symptom Checker, Calorie Counter and Meal Planner. Worth a look for anyone interested in health and nutrition news and info.
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