iPhone App Helps Identify Patient Woes

When a patient has a condition, Dr. Brian Bobb has years of medical training along with primary and urgent care experience to guide him to what the problem is and how to fix it. He says iTriage, an application for iPhones or Android Smartphones, can help a patient figure out if that ailment is worth a trip to the doctor.

"For us it's a tool we want to show our patients how to use so they can get the care they need and they know where and when to go to what place," Bobb said.

Whether it is a pharmacy, primary care physician, urgent care center or emergency room, "Where to go", starts with the patient's problem.

iTriage starts with plugging in your symptoms. If you are having abdominal pain, it might lead to appendicitis as a possible problem. Dr. Bobb says iTraiage goes deeper into the symptoms.

"Nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain, typically right lower part of abdomen,” Bobb said. “For something like appendicitis they're saying you really need to go to an emergency room."

Even if you find yourself driving in an unfamiliar city and in need of medical treatment in an emergency room, the application pulls up the closest emergency rooms and even gives you directions to get there.

Austin Immediate Care, near West Slaughter and Mopac, is the first urgent care center in Texas to partner with iTriage. Dr. Bobb says it combines technology with a doctor's expertise.

"The guys who created it are ER doctors,” Bobb said. “They're looking at everything that's out there. They formed a panel to go over the recommendations it's giving and to research the types of diagnosis and to get specialists in each of those areas to review that.”

While Dr. Bobb says iTriage is not meant to take the place of a doctor but it can help a patient identify the problem.

"It's really going to give you a good idea of where to start but it's not going to give you a final diagnosis.”

For questions or comments about this story, email james.irby@foxtv.com.