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Differential Diagnosis review
Mark Mackay
We review Differential Diagnosis, an iPhone application to provide health care professionals with a second opinion in their pocket
It's not the full program, but it is free
Published on Jan 15, 2010
It’s likely that a lot of people reading this review will be healthcare professionals and so should know what differential diagnosis means. For those that don’t – it’s basically a technique that operates using the process of elimination to identify unknowns. It can be used by taxonomists to identify which families living organisms fall into, or by doctors to identify why a patient’s legs are falling off…for example.
At the time of writing the app costs £4.99 and even that’s on a special offer. The price hints at the app being more of a professional tool than some light entertainment. When you open it up, this fact is bolstered by the fact that everything is very no-nonsense. There’s little in the way of pleasingly aesthetic additions to the app. This one is all about the functionality.
The first page is a list of symptoms longer than the working week with an alphabetical shortcut bar down one side much like the one from your iPhone contacts book. Each symptom can have anything up to 45 different differentials which are outlined in some detail when you press on them.
When you press on a symptom and differential, you are taken to a screen where you get the lowdown on what that symptom might mean. The text is clear and concise, and you can add notes, bookmarks or photos. The latter is particularly useful as over time you could build up a more illustrated version of the app.
The symptoms aren’t just things like ‘runny nose’ or ‘gammy leg’ either and contain everything from ‘high prolactin’ to ‘viral exanthem’. We couldn’t think of a medical symptom that wasn’t included and there were many that we couldn’t think what they might mean. This is truly Doctor’s territory.
An equally comprehensive list is provided for diseases, which is again relayed with an alphabetical shortcut, and the app’s search function will save you a lot of scrolling. If you’re ever in need of a quick second opinion or want a quick reference then Differential Diagnosis might be worth a look.
It’s expensive though and most Docs will have a PC with Google to hand making the app’s appeal questionable. If you do need something like this on your iPhone though, Differential Diagnosis seems a comprehensive application.
Differential Diagnosis info
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Platform: Phone/iPod touch
Cost: £4.99
Version: 1.0
Developer: BMJ Group
Website/Demo: BMJ website
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