Empowering Patients to Understand Their Health

Editors Note: This is a guest post by one of the founders of MedNexus. I wanted to share this new resource because there is so much incorrect information on the internet. This resource curates the best and most accurate articles so that the information presented to you when you search is much more reliable than when you just use Google or Yahoo. ~Shelley

Empowering Patients to Understand Their Health

Medicine is an information science. Exciting new developments are happening every day but patients (and doctors) are inundated with information and cannot keep up with the latest evidence. Navigating the sea of information available online can be daunting at best, and dangerous at worst.

A close family member of mine has been suffering from Crohn’s Disease for over 15 years. He was struck by this terrible condition in his mid twenties and has had to undergo countless surgeries. His journey from doctor to doctor, hospital to hospital without any relief highlights the lack of consensus on courses of treatment and the heterogeneity of care. After years of looking for a long-term solution to help manage his recurring pouch infections, he came upon a online pamphlet highlighting a simple day-to-day approach that immediately provided relief. This was not a recommendation from his doctors but information he had uncovered through his own extensive online research.

Doctors are overburdened with patients and (understandably) cannot dedicate the appropriate time and attention to each individual case. Patients not only have the ability but the responsibility to do their own research and learn about their diagnoses and the available treatments. The question, how can someone without the benefit of a formal medical education make sense of and vet all the information they come across?

I am the co-developer of MedNexus, a medical search engine for patients – think “Google for Medicine”. At MedNexus we believe having access to the right information can change someone’s life. We have developed a solution to cut through the noise of typical health sites. We want to provide a viable alternative to WebMD and all the pseudo-science you can find online, and enable you to engage in meaningful conversations with your doctor.

Through our search engine, you can find the most relevant content from a variety of sources: medical journals, patient forums, government health sites, etc. Whether you are looking for the latest evidence, or to learn from fellow patients who have the same condition as you, you can find reliable and actionable answers at MedNexus.

Please keep in mind that this is a beta and our platform is still a work in progress! We are happy to get your feedback (and constructive criticism) to help us improve on it.

Check us out at: www.mednexus.io