People are always surprised when I have to look up the answer to a medical question.  Despite the fact that I have over 10 years of nursing experience, I am in a highly specialized discipline.  So when it comes to ear infections, lodged foreign objects, and food allergies, I’m just like every other mother, Googling her way through parenthood.

Fortunately, there is a handy little app called iTriage, a free smartphone application which gives you access to hundreds of symptoms, diseases, and procedures and provides comprehensible descriptions of medical conditions, treatments, and medical tests.

I downloaded the app to test it out and was quite impressed with the amount of information at my disposal. To give you an example, I searched for the common cold.  Along with information about what a cold is, it’s symptoms, the common tests performed, and the treatment, I received information about obtaining medical help in my area, images, videos, advice lines, and a list of medical websites to refer to. The app allows  you to look up both diseases and symptoms and guides your search for a physician or medical treatment.  You can also learn about medical procedures including the potential complications and the average cost.

Here is a quick recap of the features offered by iTriage:

• Information on more than 300 symptoms, 1000 diseases and 350 medical procedure
• A nationwide directory of hospitals, urgent cares, retail clinics, pharmacies and physicians
• Turn-by-turn facility directions from GPS, IP address or zip code locations
• Nurse advice lines
• Detailed quality reports from HealthGrades on hospitals and physicians
• Help negotiating medical bills through an iTriage partnership with one of the most respected claims adjudication organizations
• Emergency Room Wait Times for hospitals in select parts of the country

iTriage, which was created by Healthagen and thought up by two emergency room physicians, is currently available for the iPhone and iPod Touch, Android, and Palm.  You can download this free app here.

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