Ingrid Briggiler is a gynecologist and passionate about medicine. It is for this reason that after several years of research she created the Calling the Doctor App and presented the project in the Novartis Startup Challenge 2020 starting first in the contest. “It is a telemedicine service that connects doctors and patients through a mobile application to resolve queries. It allows you to get a diagnosis instantly, wherever you are. If you feel bad or have a medical consultation, you contact a professional from our medical staff through a video call with your cell phone, without delay. No matter where you are or how late it is, we have doctors available to help you 24 hours a day, 365 days a year“, says the santafesina.
-How did the idea of putting together this app come about?
-The idea of Calling the Doctor was born from a personal experience, and out of a need that I noticed existed since the time I was in university: the teachers interrupted classes because they had to talk to their patients. This was 13 years ago, and it is something that continues to happen, because there is a need for constant communication between patients and doctors. The application that we develop what it does is to formalize and organize these professional consultations. And although telemedicine was already working in other countries around the world, in Argentina there was no such development, so in 2017 we launched the platform.
-Did the pandemic have to see or do you think this situation was a great opportunity to develop it?
-The pandemic is accelerating the process of technology adoption in all areas, and medicine clearly has a preponderant role. Many habits on the part of the users were going to mutate little by little, over the years, and the pandemic brought everything forward in a few months. So many people who did not know that they could be treated remotely or who did not believe in this system, today even see it in a natural way. And of course, in times of Covid-19 and compulsory quarantine, Calling the Doctor is a very valuable tool because it collaborates with the health system preventing patients from making consultations in hospitals and care centers, and can be protected in their houses and of course solve your health problem. We are proud to be able to help in this task, since having traveled a path before the pandemic, we are solid and well prepared to respond. Thus, in recent months we have received 100,000 queries, and this implies that we have grown some 35 times compared to the pre-pandemic.
-Why do you think your proposal was so innovative?
-Calling the Doctor is an innovative service, not only because it is a technological and modern development but also because it is democratizing, since anyone can use it, they know more or less about technology. For this, we recreate what happens in a conventional consultation, but through the screen, always taking care of and protecting patient data. This is very important and valuable. In turn, when we talk about medical and health records, we cannot use traditional means of communication to communicate with patients, everything has to be recorded in the electronic medical record, it has to be properly encrypted, the data has to be stored in a way specific, and special so that it allows the protection of personal data, with confidentiality of what happened in the medical consultation; and also that it allows the professional to keep a record of their attentions.
Image gallery
–
–
Access subscriber benefits
- Exclusive content
- Raffles
- Discounts on publications
- Participation in events organized by Editorial Perfil.
–
–
–
