Google plays to the doctor: Symptoms and diseases now in searches

In the next few days, it will be enough to write a symptom in the field of research to get answers merged into a single card. The terrors of the times are over after an in medical research?

It’s probably happened to everyone: you woke up with a slight malaise, apparently nothing to worry about, and want to know what you stand without interminable waits by your doctor.

So you turn to Google and in this case, the answers can be found on various industry forums. The clinical picture that appears is usually catastrophic, and discover that even a slight headache will lead to certain death. But the situation could change in the near future.

From next Monday the site and Google’s mobile applications for iOS and Android will introduce a new feature that aims to bring into one the main information panel on various medical symptoms.

You will not find the scientific name of the disease, but can simply type in the field of research a specific symptom, such as ” I hurt my belly “. Google then outputs a set of cards with the potential causes of the illness, how to get more information online and what type of doctor will rely for care.

To today when searching for a disease on the Mountain View search engine Google gives priority to the health sector of the main sites to find a correct and reliable answer is not always the top of the search results are the most suitable.

Find all the information you need in one of the screen can be extremely useful, as well as more comfortable, simplifying the search procedures. What is certain is that by offering Google such a popular feature on its search engine, the news could impact significantly on the traffic generated by the sites in the industry.

To develop the new Google feature has gathered a list of symptoms present in the most popular search results, such as ” headaches on one side “, ” back pain ” or ” bruise around the eye, ” and then associate them the medical information it already has within its database Knowledge Graph. Finally, search results are grouped into a single screen of the panel. Given the sensitivity of the issue treated the company has of course worked with doctors and experts.

” To obtain the necessary information we have worked together with a team of doctors to review the individual symptomatic information and develop the possible cause panel, ” said Google on the new feature. ” We’ve got to work with experts from Harvard Medical School and the Mayo Clinic to assess the causes related to a representative set of research so as to improve the list of results that we will propose. ” 

The functionality will be distributed in the coming weeks in English in the United States for iOS and Android users, both smartphones that tablet, either via the desktop app that site. Google has also planned the release of global medical research so that it is then also available in other countries of the world and for users who speak other languages.

It seems that the medical world leaders are excited about the feature: ” A lot of times people are afraid of what lies in research, ” said Wanda Filer, a family physician and president of the American Academy of Family Physicians, not involved in the project. ” So if these cards Google manage to add a context, this could help tremendously both doctors and patients. “