Dr iPhone

Need help performing first aid? Tracking your calorie count? Interpreting an ECG? There's an app for that! Nowadays, technology has taken over our lives. On my way to uni on the bus, most mornings I can count the number of people fiddling with a non-smartphone on one hand (including me). Advertising boards and websites no longer lack the words "follow us on Twitter!". I'm hoping interpretation of an ECG will be a walk in the park for my doctor, but when do you draw the line? When does the time come where one should actually seek their own GP's advice regarding their suspiciously green phlegm following their suspiciously long-lasting bout of flu and not rely so much on technology?

I recently read up on an app that would apparently recommend someone the best OTC product(s) for a specific set of symptoms. "Pickka Med" they call it; "an expert pharmacist in your pocket" they describe it as. I don't doubt its ability to mechanically select an OTC product, based on a few pieces of criteria. But an expert pharmacist in your pocket? To the lay person, this app might seem fantastic; no more waiting for the pharmacist to become free in order to discuss their problem. However, to the healthcare professional, this wouldn't strike a good chord. I have many issues regarding it myself: is it possible to input the drugs that a patient is currently taking? A patient's allergies? Contraindications? Above all, it definitely can't counsel effectively. Would the app tell the patient to visit their GP if they had certain danger symptoms, as a pharmacist would have been trained to do?

Although I haven't used the app myself (I believe it isn't available in the UK at the moment at any rate), it seems that the app's developers haven't thought about many criteria that may put a patient's health at risk if not considered by someone with the skills to do so. Some professionals have also voiced apprehension concerning the reliability of the information provided in similar health apps.

In all, I don't think companies should have the right to compare an app or something similar to informed and well-trained pharmacists or other healthcare professionals, especially without evidence. More importantly, with our obsession with technology, will it be harder for people to realise that they do in fact need Dr Brown from the surgery's advice and not Dr iPhone's?