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Show HN: Health Scout – An app I wrote for a mother traveling with a sick child
- rtrivedi 12y agoWhile on vacation, I spoke to a mother who often had to be aware of emergency rooms around her because her child had health problems. I built this simple app for her. It's my first app and I'm looking for suggestions on how to make it better. Right now it only works in the USA but I'm hoping to expand to Canada very soon.
- ghufran_syed 12y agoI'm an ER physician, this is a great idea for an app. It would be good to discuss further, I have sent you a connect request on linked in, thanks!
- coob 12y agoI think this a really nifty idea. Would love to know where the data comes from - are you aggregating it yourself? Also, does it include a notification centre widget?
- rtrivedi 12y agoThe registered emergency rooms are catalogued on the medicare website (medicare.gov). The government has a list of all the emergency rooms in the USA. They also do a survey of each hospital periodically to keep there data up to date. Unfortunately, these updates aren't in real time. I'm hoping I can provide people live data through my app through a feedback/reporting mechanism. It took a fair bit of time to extract all the data available and I had to do some aggregation myself. The app doesn't yet include a notification centre widget but that's a great idea! I'm putting that on the list of potential feature adds :). Thank you!
- biot 12y ago> to keep there data up to date Should be "their data". You should also fix this in the app description: should be "about what their options are", not "about what there options are".
- rtrivedi 12y agoThanks. Fixed in the app description.
- Startups411 12y agoWhere are you keeping the data that you've compiled? Are you using Parse?
- philo23 12y agoNot sure if it'll be much help, but you might be able to find and scrape data from here: http://data.gov.uk/data/search http://data.gov.uk/data/search to do something similar for the UK, I can't seem to find it though.
- DanBC 12y agoExcept general people should be using pharmacists; in-hours GPs or out of hours doctors and walk-in-centres; and minor injuries units. A&E should be reserved for emergency care. There's a very small percentage of people who need an A&E department and this app would be great for them, but please don't send people who are not in an emergency to A&E. http://www.nhs.uk/NHSEngland/AboutNHSservices/Pages/NHSservices.aspx http://www.nhs.uk/NHSEngland/AboutNHSservices/Pages/NHSservi... http://www.choosewellglos.nhs.uk/ http://www.choosewellglos.nhs.uk/
- rtrivedi 12y agoThanks for the links. I'd like to help build a world where people have access to useful information as easily as possible. Of course, with ease of access to information people will need to become more responsible. I'm hopeful we can get there :)
- rtrivedi 12y agoCool! I'll take a look :)
- ceejayoz 12y agoI've got a medically sensitive daughter and this is a cool idea. Where does the data come from? Are you protected in situations where someone might drive to a now-closed ER?
- noart 12y agoI am also very interested to know where the data comes from. Great idea and great execution!
- rtrivedi 12y agoI want to be as open as possible about where the data comes from. It's pretty darn important to understand potential flaws in the system and I'm hoping to identify and (help) fix it. The data comes from http://www.medicare.gov/ http://www.medicare.gov/. If you dig deep enough you'll see that the government does extensive surveys on each hospital and tries to catalog everything. Two important deficiencies in the data that I am thinking about: (a) Data is updated in real time. (b) There is no existing mechanism for Health Scout to help updating the gov data. I agree the above will take some work and I intend to try through Health Scout :)
- silencio 12y agoThanks so much for this awesome app :) Multiple times in my past I've needed an app like this. If I may offer two suggestions: - Can you show hospitals without average wait times? I just tried the app and it doesn't show me my preferred ER because medicare.gov doesn't have any wait time listed for it. That might weed out good ERs for no reason. (It's my HMO's hospital. I would travel 2 extra miles in nearly all cases for ER staff that have direct access to my medical records, the easy insurance situation, and the super easy followup with my doctors.) - A way to search ERs by manually entering a location, not just showing the nearest. Unfortunately, my parents have a habit of calling me rather than calling 911 or just going to the nearest ER. While 99% of the time it's the ER near their home, sometimes I need to look it up. They're averse to learning any new app :(
- jkot 12y agoBe gender neutral, some fathers might find title a bit offensive.
- coob 12y agoThe title isn't offensive whatsoever, it's a brief origin story.
- jkot 12y agoFair enough, i had not noticed a singular form.
- Killswitch 12y agoAs a father I don't find this offensive at all.
- JosephRedfern 12y agoIt looks pretty slick, nice job. I echo other people's questions about the source of the data etc. Also, how do the emergency services work in the US? If you dial 911 and ask for an ambulance, will you not be taken to the nearest ER anyway? (Asking as an ignorant Brit!)
- maxerickson 12y agoYes, the ambulance will take you to the nearest ER. I guess there are conditions where treatment is urgent but not so urgent you need an ambulance. Also, it can often be faster to drive in than to wait.
- rtrivedi 12y agoI found this out the hard way. Even though I live within walking distance of an emergency room, the 911 operator told me to wait for an ambulance to arrive (even though it wasn't an emergency). The net result was me waiting 20 minutes for an ambulance to arrive and take me to the hospital, instead of walking to the hospital in 10 minutes. Luckily my insurance covered the ambulance ride to the hospital!
- drglitch 12y agoAmbulances do take you to nearest ER but more and more health insurance plans do not cover the cost of the ride (which is $1000-$2000) or have a $500 deductible for such. Unless you're in real trouble, its often cheaper and simpler to have someone drive you.
- nathannecro 12y agoWhen I have free time, I spend some time working on ALS ambulances to maintain my certification level. How EMS works in the US generally follows this path: You get sick. You then dial 911. A dispatcher talks with you, routes your call to an ambulance company, and provides us with some information on what's going on. If the environment is no danger to you, they should generally tell you to stay put. Depending on the nature of the emergency, they'll have some first-responder/stopgap measures they'll want you (or bystanders) to do. If you have crushing chest pain for example, they'll explain how to place yourself into a recovery position (in case you vomit while unconscious), they'll ask for a nearby bystander (in case they have to instruct them how to perform CPR), and they'll do their best to keep you calm and aware of your situation. What they don't want you to do (even if you're 10 minutes away from a hospital) is try to move yourself there because: If you become unconscious on the way to the hospital, it becomes so much harder to find you (rather than if you had stayed in a static location that you've described). By moving, you might move from a safe environment to a more dangerous environment (sidewalk to middle of the street). When the ambulance arrives, the medic will perform their own assessment of your condition. If you're alert, they'll ask you questions, ask you to chew some aspirin, place you on a heart monitor. If you've become unresponsive at this point, then slightly more drastic measures are taken. When they load you into the ambulance, they'll make a determination (based upon their assessment) of where to take you. The nearest ER may not have the proper resources to deal with or handle your condition. I'm unsure how emergency departments in hospitals outside of the US work, but here, not all EDs can provide the same level of care. If you're having an MI (heart attack), and you need cardiac care (a facility that can crack your chest open), it's far faster for the medic to assess you then immediately take you to the correct place. As a contrary example: If you happen to make it into an ED on your own foot-power and manage to explain what's going on to the triage nurse, then they still have to call in an ambulance to transport you to a hospital which can provide an adequate level of care. In some hospitals, they won't even begin to treat you (because of liability issues...it's horrible). TL;DR. Some ERs cannot provide a certain level of care (Trauma Centers, Cardiac Centers, Psych, etc) and thus the closest ER may not be the correct ER to go to.
- jwhyne 12y agoAwesome idea. Good work with the clean looking UI. Looking forward to when it's available in Canada.
- rtrivedi 12y agoThanks! Hopefully in the next update.
- VLM 12y agoOne minor nitpick, isn't the listed average delay more a measure of the rate of non-ER traffic in the ER? I mean if you're in allergic shock or diabetic coma they'll treat you immediately, but if it takes an uninsured person 8 hours on average to be treated for a simple cold, then that doesn't really fit the theoretical use case for the app?
- rtrivedi 12y agoGood point. The times that are reported are what the government has captured as time until you get to see a doctor. I haven't confirmed but I think you're right. If it's a life threatening situation the hospital will probably treat you right away (I sure hope they will, anyway). I'm also not sure who makes the call whether or not you should get treated right away.
- reginawong 12y agoWould be helpful to see user reviews for each hospital... and if the hospital is good for out of country/state travelers.
- keehun 12y agoThis is really awesome, and WELL DESIGNED! Looks very easy to use, and such a great purpose. Have you thought about the legal ramifications if someone depended on your app and the info was outdated causing a lot of ache?
- rtrivedi 12y agoThanks for the praise. I definitely have considered the legal ramifications. I'm going to do my best to keep the data up to date. However, I've attached a disclaimer in the app that explains the data may not always be accurate. It should be used for informational purposes only.
- aepearson 12y agoAs a parent, I can say this is a STELLAR idea. Thank you for taking the time to make it. I'm downloading it right now. This is very relevant to me, my wife and I are planning a 3 week Europe trip for next summer with our two small children.
- feroz1 12y agoThis is a really neat app and brilliantly executed! Good luck with it. Would love a UK version!