Many years ago, I sat in the chilly room of the general practitioner’s office in a clinic, waiting to be told what kind of flu I had and what medicines I needed to take. Granted, people have had the cold and flu so many times now that the general prognosis and medications are known.
But for other things, it’s not always clear. And often, finding a doctor or waiting for diagnosis does take time.
Take for example a couple of years ago – my friend’s mother was admitted to a hospital because of leg pain and fatigue. After initial blood tests and vitals, they found some imbalance in the blood cell count and the MRI returned something fishy. In the four days it took for the biopsy results to return, my friend went online and checked mobile apps for possible causes. With the help of the internet, the unlimited medical resources as well as mobile apps, everything was at his fingertips until he narrowed down the causes to one of two, one of which was confirmed to be the case.
In this day and age, doctors are, of course, necessary, and while a final diagnoses to confirm is recommended, for many minor (or even major) issues there are plenty of resources available through which the information can be found. With the power of our smartphones these days and the complexity of the processing powers, we have numerous mobile health apps that can help us find this information.
One of my personal favourite go-to apps is WebMD. It is a free tool that allows you to check for possible causes for symptoms, as well as give you medication reminders and information on medicines which includes uses, side effects, precautions and interactions – all of what you will see on the leaflets. The app also provides information on various medical procedures, what do they mean, and how and why they are done.
Various other apps now also integrate with your mobile phone, such as iOS’s Health app. The Health app will read information from various installed apps (with your permission) and can monitor various vitals, such as heart rate, sugar levels, and numerous other things, all of which can be used by apps for various diagnosis.
And there is always Wikipedia, which is available on mobile phone. While definitely not as accurate as designated medical apps, it still provides solid information on various diseases, microbes, germs, and other medical conditions that make for a good informative reading.
Locally, the UAE provides apps for Dubai Health Authority as well as “Dubai Doctors”, which allows you to look for registered doctors by specialization, view their information as well as their contact and hospitals/clinics they work for – all on mobile.
While visiting a doctor is, of course, irreplaceable, it now extremely convenient to look up medical information and be informed.
