Evaluation of symptom checkers for self diagnosis and triage: audit study.

ABSTRACT:

Objective

To determine the diagnostic and triage accuracy of online symptom checkers (tools that use computer algorithms to help patients with self diagnosis or self triage).

Design

Audit study.

Setting

Publicly available, free symptom checkers.

Participants

23 symptom checkers that were in English and provided advice across a range of conditions. 45 standardized patient vignettes were compiled and equally divided into three categories of triage urgency: emergent care required (for example, pulmonary embolism), non-emergent care reasonable (for example, otitis media), and self care reasonable (for example, viral upper respiratory tract infection).

Main outcome measures

For symptom checkers that provided a diagnosis, our main outcomes were whether the sym

SUBMITTER: Semigran HL 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4496786 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature