Southeast Missouri Hospital partners with iTriage for new smartphone app

BT: How did Southeast get started with this iPhone app?

Sherry Westbroook, web supervisor at Southeast: Many people are now constantly connected to the web through mobile devices. The iTriage app was designed to help people quickly determine if their medical situation is emergent or not and find the appropriate health care provider, no matter where they are. As a preferred provider, Southeast Missouri Hospital has partnered with iTriage to provide our community with detailed information about our services and specialties to give smartphone and Web users immediate access and a more personal way to obtain information about all that we do and offer.

BT: How does the app work?

SW: Let's say your child comes down with acute abdominal pain. Once you have downloaded iTriage on your smartphone, or accessed the software through iTriageHealth.com, you can search under "symptoms" for abdominal pain. The software will then populate a list of possible causes. From there, you can click on the procedures typically used by medical professionals to diagnose a particular condition, so that you can better explain to your child what to expect. Most of the conditions also contain pictures and videos related to the condition. The real power behind iTriage is in the last step. Based on your specific medical problem, the iTriage software will direct you to the most appropriate provider. Based on your GPS location, IP address or ZIP code, the software populates the provider list based on distance from your exact location.

BT: Is it a free app?

SW: There is no cost for consumers to download the application or to use the iTriage software online.

BT: Are smartphone apps a growing trend among hospitals?

SW: I think hospitals are constantly looking for ways to get health information to the public. It used to be that hospitals had to rely on pamphlets and other traditional methods to communicate information to the public, Now, however, apps like iTriage allow hospitals to provide the public with a health encyclopedia at their fingertips everywhere they go.