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Symptom Checker Analysis

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Technology is expanding and information is readily available on any subject at any time. Does your leg hurt? A patient can enter a search term and then be inundated with information, about why your leg might hurt. Anything from muscle strain to bone cancer. Quite a wide variety of information generated from sources that may, or may not, be reliable. How is a person with limited or no medical knowledge supposed to navigate through this information? In order to assist people who are seeking medical information symptom checkers have been developed. These symptom checkers are self-service applications that allow a person to enter information and then generate a probable diagnosis or in some cases triage for recommended level of care (Semigran, et al., 2015). Self-service in the healthcare is an emerging field. It is expected to expand and enhance healthcare delivery. Symptom checkers have been deployed by well-trusted organizations such as the American Academy of Pediatrics, Kaiser Permanente, and the Mayo Clinic (Semigran, et al., 2015). Many smart phone users are acquainted with several free applications available for download such as iTriage, WebMD and many more (Semigran, et al., 2015). In order to see if these self-service symptom checkers …show more content…

However, the nurse has the ability to override the algorithm result based on information the algorithm did not consider or nursing judgement, which adjusts for algorithm errors. These automated symptoms checkers have been promoted as an alternative to nurse telephone triage services (Semigran, et al., 2015). Obviously, they are less costly because a staff of registered nurses is not needed for the automated systems; but if accuracy and patient safety are at risk then it is not an appropriate alternative (Semigran, et al.,

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