Even a brain surgeon, with years of schooling and countless hours of operating experience, doesn't have all the answers.
Doctors need to access medical information fast, and they need it to be reliable. Google, however, often fails to deliver on the latter as marketing companies and other sites use SEO to get their links to appear higher in search results.
"Search engine optimization of Google really takes away from its utility in the world," said John Ruge, director of pediatric neurosurgery at Advocate Children's Hospital.
To give doctors better search results for complex questions on cancer tumors, Ruge founded Medeligo, an app that gives physicians fast and easy access to medical research with the tap of their smartphone.
Medeligo--derived from the Latin word “deligo” meaning to pick, pluck, choose, or select--helps doctors access trusted primary medical research, images and videos across a range of medical subspecialties, such as brain, skin and breast cancers. Doctors can select the type of tumor they're working with, choose from a common medical question or type in one of their own, and get search results with links to primary source articles on the topic. Doctors can also save searches and share them with colleagues inside the app. Medeligo is free for the first three months, and costs $49 a year after that.
The idea is to give physicians the ability to quickly look up information on a tumor to help them make the best treatment decision possible.
Ruge said the app works well with residents in rounds, who may need to quickly look up information before walking over to the next patient. It's also a time saver for physicians who need information on a specific condition before their next patient arrives.
"It's really good when you’re on the fly," he said.
The startup says it's built a patent-pending algorithm to help doctors access the best medical search results, and the app learns what physicians are searching over time to help improve its results. Medeligo has a competitor in UpToDate, a information search tool for medical professionals that's been around for over 20 years.
Medeligo plans to soon launch subspecialties in lung, G.I. tract, and other conditions--eventually making the app a one-stop-shop for oncologists to get quick medical information on virtually any topic. Ruge declined to say how many users the app has, but counts doctors from Northshore University Health System and Rush University Medical Center among the early adopters.
"[Medeligo] does a much better job than someone sitting down with Google and searching," Ruge said. "I hope it's in everyone's pocket at the resident level, medical students and oncologists in the next couple years."
Image via Medeligo
