Co-developed by alumnus Wayne Guerra, the free iTriage app allows users to look up symptoms, learn possible causes and, if needed, get turn-by-turn directions to the nearest emergency room or health care facility. Photo: Wayne Armstrong
Fred Ricles was running errands last spring when the vision in one of his eyes became blurry.
“It looked like somebody had splashed coffee all over my contact lens,” the Centennial, Colo., man says.
Using iTriage, an iPhone application co-developed by emergency room physician Dr. Wayne Guerra (MBA ’07), Ricles typed in his symptoms and found that his condition was likely due to a vitreous detachment, which in most cases requires no treatment.
“It gave me peace of mind knowing what it was,” says Ricles, whose doctor confirmed the diagnosis.
The free iTriage app allows users to look up symptoms, learn possible causes and, if needed, get turn-by-turn directions to the nearest emergency room or health care facility.
“iTriage helps people answer two very simple questions that are actually quite complex: What could be wrong, and what should I do?” says Guerra, chief medical officer of iTriage’s parent company, the Lakewood, Colo., based Healthagen.
Guerra says iTriage has been downloaded 2.3 million times on mobile smartphones since it was first introduced as an iPhone app in 2009. It is also available as an Android app and can be accessed on the Web. The application includes information on thousands of symptoms, diseases and medical procedures and a nationwide “white pages” directory of emergency rooms, physicians, urgent cares, retail clinics, pharmacies and outpatient clinics. Users can look up tests, treatment, images, videos and medications. Through iTriage, users can connect with nurse call lines run by health plans. And the “Find Medical Help’’ button provides GPS directions to the nearest appropriate health care facility.
In some cases, iTriage has prompted people to seek lifesaving emergency room treatment for conditions such as appendicitis, Guerra says. In other cases, it helps people find an alternative to an emergency room for a less serious condition such as a sprained ankle.
“About 30–40 percent of emergency room visits across the U.S. are unnecessary,’’ Guerra says. “That means someone needs care, but they don’t need care at the level of an emergency department. We help people decide when it’s appropriate to go to an emergency department or an urgent care facility and direct them to the closest facility.”