After years of serving as the starting point for so many health-related searches, Google has finally done the inevitable: introduced a symptom searcher, at least to its mobile app. With help from Harvard Medical School and Mayo Clinic, the symptom-search function promises to be more accurate and useful than Dr. Google of the past.
The Internet giant said that it made the move after determining that fully 1 percent of all searches worldwide are symptom related. Google knew that it wasn’t delivering the best results. “After 20 minutes digging through health forums, chances are you’re overwhelmed by all the complicated medical terms and breaking out in a sweat—whether that’s related to the headache or the overdose of info is unclear!” Product Manager Veronica Pinchin wrote on the official Google blog.
The updated Google search app for both Android and Apple iOS will match searches of symptoms against a medical database. The results will pop up as “digital cards,” according to the Wall Street Journal, and users can swipe through to find more information about possible medical conditions.
Pinchin explained:
So starting in the coming days, when you ask Google about symptoms like “headache on one side,” we’ll show you a list of related conditions (“headache,” “migraine,” “tension headache,” “cluster headache,” “sinusitis,” and “common cold”). For individual symptoms like “headache,” we’ll also give you an overview description along with information on self-treatment options and what might warrant a doctor’s visit. By doing this, our goal is to help you to navigate and explore health conditions related to your symptoms, and quickly get to the point where you can do more in-depth research on the web or talk to a health professional.
Still, Google included a disclaimer: “That said, symptom search (like all medical information on Google) is intended for informational purposes only, and you should always consult a doctor for medical advice.”
A Deep-dive Into Specialty Pharma
A specialty drug is a class of prescription medications used to treat complex, chronic or rare medical conditions. Although this classification was originally intended to define the treatment of rare, also termed “orphan” diseases, affecting fewer than 200,000 people in the US, more recently, specialty drugs have emerged as the cornerstone of treatment for chronic and complex diseases such as cancer, autoimmune conditions, diabetes, hepatitis C, and HIV/AIDS.
While sites like WebMD have had symptom checkers for years, Google seems to be the default search place for everything online. The company is simply trying to make the search engine “a helpful place to start,” Pinchin said.
Photo: Google
