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The “Medical Guide”, an online medical assistant at www.medicalguide.ch, does not make a diagnosis, but tells you how urgently someone should get help and who to turn to. Questions are asked in an automated chat. Not just two, three, but many, depending on the clinical picture. The canton of Aargau is breaking new ground in emergency care.
The medical guide may recommend bed rest
If someone has a headache, the virtual doctor asks if they have other symptoms and lists suggestions. Then you want to know how long, how much and where your head hurts and what the pain feels like. If someone has other complaints, they are asked detailed questions about them. Based on the response, the web application makes a recommendation, for example: “Medical treatment does not have to be immediate, but it should not be postponed until tomorrow or over the weekend.” In addition, the medical guide tells you who to turn to: your GP, pharmacist or a hospital. It may also be that she simply recommends bed rest first.
The initiative for such a web application came from the Aargau Medical Association. The cantonal health department quickly became enthusiastic about the idea and a corresponding project was launched together with the Swiss company In4Medicine about two years ago.
Germany knows a similar product
Andreas Meer, Director of In4Medicine, is a physician and has worked in emergency rooms for years. It was often wondered why certain patients are too late for an emergency, and why others come with complaints that could actually be treated at home with home remedies. To counteract this and promote the personal responsibility of each individual, he founded In4Medicine and developed software solutions together with IT specialists.
This is what a symptom check performed by the Medical Guide can look like.
© Britta Gut Image: Screenshot
A similar product has been used in Germany for two years. However, unlike the Medical Guide, employees use this product to counsel people with health problems over the phone. “With the Aargau product, we are now going one step further, and patients use the tool themselves,” says Andreas Meer.
Patients must contact the right place
For Barbara Hürlimann, head of the health department, one thing is clear: “As a canton, we have a duty to provide the population with modern and coordinated emergency care.” This begins when people with medical problems head to the right place. “We want to promote personal responsibility and prevent people with minor complaints from clogging hospital emergency rooms and people with serious complaints from not getting help.”
This was impressively demonstrated during the spring close. “The emergency rooms were partially empty. Seriously ill people, for example with a heart attack or a stroke, did not dare to go to the hospital for fear of Corona ”. She hopes the web app will change that by showing people who use it that their complaints are serious and they need help.
In addition, the canton wants to be a pioneer when it comes to e-health, says Barbara Hürlimann. “That is one of the reasons why we were willing to participate personally and financially in the Medical Guide project.” The canton was able to benefit from a “special introductory price”, says Hürlimann. The web application is funded by the budget of the health department.
Developers must be independent
But can you really trust the recommendation? Doesn’t it really matter if a web app tells me that after a talk of about 3 minutes? “Yes,” say those responsible in unison. Unlike other similar apps, the Medical Guide is a certified medical product, similar to a defibrillator or a blood pressure monitor. “We have to adhere to strict standards and we are monitored regularly,” says Andreas Meer. It was also important for the medical association and the canton that the product developer was independent and did not pursue his own interests. This is the case for In4Medicine, says Nadia Haller, project manager and CEO of the Aargau Medical Association. There are no health insurance, doctors or hospitals that benefit if people visit a doctor less or more often.
The Medical Guide could be further developed
The web application can be used immediately. To do this, you need to access the www.medicalguide.ch website in your browser, whether on your computer, tablet or smartphone. The virtual doctor evaluation, whether in German, English, French or Italian, is free. If you are still undecided afterwards or would like to speak to a medical specialist, the emergency number (toll) of the Aargau Medical Association will be displayed along with the recommendation. This is 0900401501.
For Jürg Lareida, president of the Aargau Medical Association, one thing is clear: “The Medical Guide, as it stands now, could be further developed in the future.” For example, it would be possible to book a doctor or hospital appointment directly through the web application via various interfaces. “In this way, patients could be better distributed throughout the day and there would not be too many people with non-urgent medical problems in the emergency at the same time.”
However, there is still a long way to go. However, experience in Germany has shown that the needs of the population go exactly in this direction, says Andreas Meer.
