CrowdMed or TeamMed: Diagnosis as a target

The diagnosis of a disease is a key point for every patient and the first step to find a solution. Sometimes the clinical picture is not clear and the symptoms are share with several entities and even the best doctor can have difficulties to get a diagnosis. In this situation different estragies can help and the development of internet open new possibilities but with different goals.

.CrowdMed is an organization open to submit personal clinical cases that can be solved by “medical detectives” . In a way is a democratization of Medicine.

.Best Doctors is another organization  working as a second opinion group for diagnosis and treatment  and based on a complete collection of medical records from the patient and sometimes in a second analysis of a biopsy.

. Several organizations have developed toolkit for patients to prepare the visit with a doctor. This is the case for the Society to Improve Diagnosis in Medicine with its “Patient Toolkit” that can be reached at “www.improvediagnosis.org”.

. Journals or academic centers keep a continuous Medical Education program, exposing clinical cases with images and introducing simulation techniques very useful to exercise the mind in the clinical reasoning field. They have a more professional side in comparison to the other ones.

I think that all of these activities  are useful for patients looking for a diagnosis, but I also believe that the best approach for a patient is to be in close contact with his or her doctor, and , as a patient, to be sure that she or he is going to make the main effort to get a correct diagnosis working as a diagnostic team with other doctors to solve the case.