IV Post

As a result, I established FreeMD.com so that people can get immediate answers 24 hours a day about what may be wrong and where to go for appropriate care. At the Web site, I greet people as a virtual doctor, ask questions in my own voice and tell them what may be wrong. I also tell them whether they should go to an emergency room, an urgent care center or a doctor's office. Visitors may even receive instructions on how to treat a problem at home.

Being able to get immediate answers about what's wrong and where to go for treatment is a revolutionary advance over sites that only provide encyclopedic information.

I found that when dangerous symptoms or injuries occurred on a weekend, people often waited for a weekday to see a doctor because they didn't recognize they needed emergency care. Then, the doctor would send them to the emergency room. Others rushed to the emergency room with conditions that were not emergencies. Both kinds of problems can happen because people don't have a doctor present when symptoms occur, so that the right decision can be made about where to go for the right kind of treatment.

Since studies have shown that 50 percent or more of hospital admissions occur at night or on a weekend, having the right information when a problem occurs can save precious time and money. This is especially important since costs and waiting times at emergency rooms have steadily increased by comparison to other kinds of facilities.

FreeMD.com is an any-time service that also gives the visitor directions on how to get to the kind of care facility that is needed. This can be especially useful when medical problems occur in a strange city or awkward location.

Doctor Stephen Schueler has been an emergency physician, teacher and author for the past 25 years. He has published a dozen software titles that empower consumers to achieve better health. Dr. Schueler's Home Medical Advisor multimedia CD series was honored with a National Health Information Award and has sold over 3 million copies.