At Isabel we are always pushing for more research and independent studies into symptom checkers and their use. Isabel has been around since 2000, but in the last few years the words symptom checker have become more and more commonplace, as the internet has been integrated into modern life. In our most recent white paper "Enabling Patient Engagement with a Symptom Checker" we discussed how many people now research their symptoms or diagnoses, and the responsibility we have to ensure they have the tools they need to do this with accuracy and efficiency, rather than researching with unvalidated resources.
We were curious as to how people are currently using symptom checkers, and what the general perception is both for the patient, the user, and the medical community. Together with Baylor College, the VA Medical Center and the University of Houston, we conducted a survey of our registered users to discover how they use the Isabel Symptom Checker. From our 4,000 registered users, we took results from the first 385 respondents and the results were very interesting. We've put the highlights into an infographic, which you can download yourself either as a PDF or PNG.
We think the results show that people are using symptom checkers like Isabel responsibly, and really trying to get involved in their own health, which is one our missions as a company. We hope you enjoyed the infographic, if you found it interesting or useful, share it around!