The new app that might help save your life — literally
Knowing that most people don’t recognize the symptoms of neurological or cardiac emergencies right away, a consortium of researchers — including from the University of Virginia, are hoping to save lives and answer that uncertainty with a new app.
The Emergency Call for Heart Attack and Stroke app lets you relay your symptoms while it also uses the camera to determine any additional ailments, giving you a quick physical exam.
Then, it’ll tell you whether you need to call your doctor, call a hotline for more specialized advice, or call 911 because your life is in danger.
The app was created by a team of doctors with different specialties about the same problem.
“So many patients weren’t coming to the hospital fast enough to get lifesaving treatment for a heart attack or stroke,” said Dr. Jonathan Crowe, an assistant professor of neurology at the University of Virginia.
“And this really happens because of one of two reasons — either patients are confused about their symptoms that they’re having and they’re not sure if these symptoms could be related to a heart attack or stroke, or they delayed the decision to come to the emergency department for evaluation.”
“If patients get to the hospital fast enough — in heart attack and in stroke — we have lifesaving treatment that we can give them, but the treatment is time dependent,” he added.
When this newer version of the app goes live, you’ll be able to use your smartphone or tablet to get a better, real-time assessment of what’s going on.
“The app will ask you to speak, the app will take a picture of your face while you’re trying to smile, and then the app will actually ask you to tap with your fingers with both hands,” Crowe said. “What it’s looking for is a slower tap on one side to detect weakness on one part of the body.”
“It takes that physical exam, and it takes the answers to the questions that you were asked, and puts it together and gives you a risk score. Internally, it calculates a risk score and then actually makes the recommendation of should you call 911, should you call your primary care doctor? Or should you call a hotline to get more specialized advice?” he added.
Initial testing in Canada has been extremely successful, Crowe said.
“The app did a great job at detecting which heart attack and stroke patients needed to come to the emergency department for treatment. So up to 98% sensitivity for detecting those patients,” he said.
“The second thing it did that was really exciting was it detected 100% of the heart attack and stroke patients.”
He said those who used the app found it very easy to maneuver, with the program helping to assess heart attack symptoms in less than a minute and stroke symptoms in less than 2 minutes.
It’s unclear when the app will be available for the public to download and utilize going forward. The app is set to undergo additional tests in the U.S.
There is a version of the app called ECHAS Lifeline that’s more limited, but will help you understand the symptoms of a stroke or cardiac arrest. However, it stops short of providing any interaction, testing or recommendations that the new app will provide.
“There are so many people out there that have smartphones and tablets who are looking for ways to use those to make good medical decisions,” Crowe said. “We want to provide ECHAS as a way to do that.