New Online Tool Checks Symptoms of a Child’s Illness

The Scoop

What should you do if your child develops a fever, cough, vomiting, rash, sore throat, or head injury? KidsDoc Symptom Checker is a new online tool created by the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) to help parents decide what to when their child is sick. In an easy-to-use interactive format, parents can enter their child’s symptoms and receive up-to-date advice about how to treat minor illnesses at home, or when to call the doctor immediately.

The AAP tool is based on clinical protocols and symptom checklists used by pediatricians and nurses in 10,000 practices and 400 nurse advice call centers in the US and Canada. As an AAP news release for KidsDoc explains, the advice offered by the interactive tool has been tested for 15 years on more than 150 million phone calls. KidsDoc is also available as an iphone app, with immediate connections available to 911, your pediatrician, or an emergency department.

How it Works

When using the symptom checker, each symptom care guide includes a decision chart to help determine the severity of the illness and how to manage it. The symptom checker also includes pediatric dosage tables by weight for common over-the-counter medications, images to help identify rashes, stings and bites, and first aid illustrations. One of the most important pieces of information included is a chart of symptoms that require either immediate emergency attention or a phone call to your child's pediatrician.