In a cluster-randomized trial of 986 adult patients in two German out-of-hours urgent care practices, use of a patient-completed digital medical history–taking application before consultation did not improve diagnostic accuracy compared with standard history taking (57.6% vs 59.1% agreement with an expert panel). The application also did not improve physicians’ prediction of subsequent treatment needs, while factors such as the number of diagnoses documented and patient-reported symptom severity were more strongly associated with diagnostic accuracy and care outcomes.

Source: PLOS Digital Health