CrowdMed

[bigmighty]

http://venturebeat.com/2013/04/16/yc-startup-bets-crowdsourcing-can-diagnose-diseases-better-than-doctors/

[Hopeny]

Interesting thanks

[MomWithOCDSon]

VERY interesting!

 

Only downside . . . so you get a "diagnosis" from CrowdMed. Then where do you find treatment?!?!

 

I can just hear it now: "You moms should stay off the internet! Do you believe everything you read on line?"

[filinha1]

I think this is fascinating and that the internet is creating a huge, democratizing shift in who has the power in all kinds of areas. Docs may initially brush off informed patients but they will eventually have to accept that they no longer hold all the knowledge cards and will have to change how they interact - and maybe even how they treat - accordingly.

I'm going to guess that patients will find the right providers to treat the same way we do on this forum.

Power to the people.

Heather

[Mayzoo]

VERY interesting!

 

Only downside . . . so you get a "diagnosis" from CrowdMed. Then where do you find treatment?!?!

 

I can just hear it now: "You moms should stay off the internet! Do you believe everything you read on line?"

 

We would stay off the internet if docs could provide relief of symptoms/diseases for our children. Who here actually wants to spend so much time researching for our children, and who would gladly give it up if our children actually were getting better in the first several attempts at medical treatment? But as it is, let's see......research what seems endlessly or stand idly by and watch our kids suffer with no apparent relief in sight? I know what I and everyone here has picked.

[rowingmom]

I agree. I think this forum is a great example of CrowdMed at work, only without the membership fee! Thanks to everyone here, I don't know where DD would be without all of your input.

[4Nikki]

I have doubts about how effective CrowdMed can be in coming up with a diagnosis in a few hours without the clinical testing. My work involves troubleshooting everyday and I am very good at it. CrowdMed is great idea for lessons learned and cases under the scope of probability. i.e. DS has a rash all over 2 days with cough, fever and its been going around, Doc concludes because he is the right age 95% have measles that he has the measles. In my DS case this was an incorrect. 9 doctors diagnosing everything from kidney failure, liver infection, to Hepatitis C. couldn't figure it out. His dermatologist took a skin biopsy and discovered he was actually having an allergic reaction to medication he was being given. That $199 could have never been achieved by CrowdMed without all the previous history, testing and process of elimination preformed the previous doctors.

[JoyBop]

Medicine is as much an art as it is a science. The trick is find the right one that listens to you, communicates well, and trusts your instincts as parents. Good doctor/patient relationships are hard to come by. If one doesn't listen to you, try a different one. I also agree with 4Nikki that often nothing can take the place of a face to face appointment. What looks like a duck, walks like a duck and talks like a duck is not necessarily a duck. (As all of us in this forum can testify to.) But with all that said, it's great to do your own research and give these ideas to your doctor to help sort them out or refer you to someone else who has greater expertise. Advocating for these kids are a full time job and I know I fully intend to use any and all information and clues I can to put the pieces together. Thank goodness for the good doctors that listen and help! And for those that dont? Time to move on!