In today’s fast-paced world, accessing reliable health information quickly is more important than ever. Tools like Everyday Health’s Symptom Checker, powered by Infermedica, are leveraging artificial intelligence (AI) to provide preliminary health assessments. This certified Class 1 tool is designed to analyze your symptoms against a vast database of over 1,500 symptoms and 800 conditions, offering an initial understanding of your health concerns. But how is this sophisticated technology developed and maintained to ensure accuracy and trustworthiness when you enter symptoms to get a health diagnosis?
The creation of this symptom checker involves a rigorous and multi-stage content development process. Infermedica employs a dedicated team of data scientists and medical professionals, guided by their Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Irv Loh. This team continuously monitors the tool’s performance, analyzing user data to identify areas where the content can be expanded or improved. This data-driven approach ensures the tool remains current and addresses a wide range of health issues effectively.
When new medical information is required, experienced medical content editors step in to create it. Each piece of new content is meticulously researched and supported by original, credible sources. To maintain accuracy and identify potential enhancements, this newly developed content undergoes a thorough peer-review process by another medical content editor. This critical step ensures that all information is validated and aligns with established medical knowledge.
Further bolstering the reliability of the symptom checker is a robust clinical validation phase. Infermedica’s physicians draw upon literature-based clinical cases from highly respected medical journals such as The BMJ, The New England Journal of Medicine, and Mayo Clinic Proceedings. These real-world cases are used to create clinical test cases, which are then integrated into the medical database and rigorously tested against a diagnostic engine. This process ensures the AI accurately interprets symptoms and provides relevant diagnostic suggestions.
Before any new content or features are released, a specialist conducts a final verification, and a data scientist addresses any technical issues, such as duplicate symptoms. The system undergoes regression testing and manual testing by a team of doctors to guarantee stability and accuracy. Finally, the validated content is published via a cloud-based API, making it available to users of Infermedica’s products, including the Everyday Health Symptom Checker. This comprehensive process underscores the commitment to providing a dependable and informative tool when you enter your symptoms seeking health insights.
For more detailed information about the development and capabilities of this tool, you can see additional information.
