Clinical Decision Tool Available for Smartphones

A novel smartphone app provides a simple tool that can help doctors reach a differential diagnosis based on patient signs and symptoms.

The Caracal Diagnosis app is a clinical decision support system (CDSS) designed for Apple iOS and android devices. The clinician inputs data from a database that includes 2,200 signs, symptoms, and lab findings to search among 1,600 diseases, using an intuitive interface and a search algorithm to arrive at a preliminary differential diagnosis in less than two seconds. The list of possible diseases is arranged by probability, based on various factors such as how common the disease is, how important the disease is (rare diseases but life threatening would be ranked high), the degree of matching, and importance of the combined entered symptoms, signs, and lab results.

Users just needs to type in the related keywords with help from a suggested medical terminology list. After inputting the necessary details, the app will match those with the 1,600 diseases and medical conditions in the database, stored directly in device, so that users do not need an Internet connection to search for information. The differential diagnosis algorithm will then display a list of the possible medical condition or disease, arranged from the higher to lower possibility, but without any other information.

The Caracal Diagnosis app, designed for healthcare professionals in internal medicine, family medicine, surgery, pediatrics, nursing, and medical students, was developed by Husam Salhab, MD, of the Jordan University of Science and Technology (Al Ramtha, Jordan), and is available for download from the Apple iTunes and Google Play app stores.

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Jordan University of Science and Technology