| This should be targeted toward two groups: doctors (site) and EHR vendors (API). I also think you should get some expertise involved sooner rather than later. Do a serious search and find some docs, including all the major specialties, that are both good at their jobs and sympathetic to your goals. No armchair MD's, use clinicians. I have a side gig helping docs transition to EHRs. I started by helping an immunologist family member back in 2003. She's on her second EHR now. So far, her transitions have been the first and second most difficult of the bunch. Right now it looks like SymCAT has the same problem as every EHR I've seen: the immunology side of allergy/immunology must be considered explicitly in your design, or the system will never work well. In immunology, you get weird sets of symptoms, you get multiple problems presenting, you get unusual systemic interactions and feedback loops. For example, I just cruised through a few of the signs a less articulate person (not a medical pro) with common variable immunodeficiency might mention, along with a history of asthma. When I also include my "itchy scalp" (because you offered it in the "related" section) a bunch of potential diagnoses are excluded. None of them were correct, but a few were on the right track. You're asking people to come up with their own symptoms and have a clue about which terminology will work. In practice, a big portion of the difference between a good doc and a mediocre/bad doc is the ability to construct a usable history from poor reporting. Via interview. Patients often do not have the tools to make connections (or ignore them) between symptoms. That said, good luck. It's a great problem. If you get this right, it will be huge. Again, I'd encourage a public side for marketing and a different kind of input, but put your money on licensing. |
You point to a challenge for any patient-facing patient decision aid -- getting the language right. We are building on the work of the U of Utah and building a robust consumer health vocabulary based on query data.