Doctor Out of the Office Again? There’s an App For That!

Today, there are many health resources available online and on mobile devices: WebMD.com, mobile apps, online forums, and wearable trackers. These helpful tools provide us with valuable information in regards to our well being. Of course, there are times where these resources aren’t enough and you need advice from a medical expert.

Image: Google

Ever had a time where you need to see your doctor, but he “Is currently out of the office.”? First Opinion has created an app that allows you to directly contact real-life doctors from around the world, in hopes to find a happy medium between online/app resources and face-to-face doctor appointments. This app makes it possible for them to send you real-time medical advice and information, 24 hours a day and with a response time of approximately nine minutes.

Users of this app can ask a doctor an unlimited amount of medical questions, via text message. Prior to speaking with a doctor, a window pops up with a short bio of the doctor their specialty, years in practice, location, and other random facts. In addition, you can read reviews from peers who work with each doctor – giving you the chance to “get to know” who you are speaking with beforehand.

Image: Google

For users willing to wait a 24 hour period for responses, there is not a monthly fee. For those wanting an immediate response within five minutes, the cost is $9 monthly or $29 for answers within three minutes.

There is a slight downside to using this app, as First Opinion’s Terms of Service reads, specifically, not all doctors are licensed practitioners within the United States. The company site discourages people from using the app during emergencies. Their site states, “call 9-1-1 or your own physician or pediatrician if you suspect or have reason to believe an emergency exists…”

In addition, the Terms also deter app users from taking doctor advice as true medical advice. They stated, “You will not consider the material contained in or transmitted through the App or Services to be medical advice, diagnosis/es, treatment, a prescription, and/or product recommendation.” Which seems kind of odd considering that these “specialty doctors” are supposed to be professionals in their specific field; making this app seem almost pointless.

Either way, it might be a fun app to try in case you need an answer to a random medical question. To log in to the app, you must enter basic information such as your age and gender, and then you are matched with a doctor.

The app is available for iOS only at this time. To learn more watch the short video below!

If you give this app a try tell us what you thought of it by tweeting us @AeroCom_Inc!

(Video Source)