- Basic child health tips and home care content, chat with a specialist, online medical care and night-time house calls, all in one app!
- Perfect for the new Corona era, when there are fewer consultation services for children's health and more hurdles to visit the hospital!
- The service is currently available in Tokyo and three other prefectures, as well as in major metropolitan areas throughout Japan, and is expected to expand!
Kids Doctor" is an app that provides "useful information for dealing with children's health problems", "chat health consultations with nurses and other specialists", "online medical treatment", and "night-time house calls". You can talk to experienced nurses about your child's various health problems (illness, injury, etc.), and receive online medical treatment and home visits by doctors on weeknights, weekends and holidays. The service won the grand prize at the BabyTech® Award Japan 2021 in the health management category. The editorial team at BabyTech.jp caught up with Kodai Takita, President and CEO of Northstar Corporation, the developer of Kids Doctor, to find out more about the service, how it was developed and what the future holds.
We spoke with...
President, North Star Corporation
Kodai Takita
A "good luck charm" for parents at times when hospitals are not open.
Editor: Thank you very much for your time today. Could you give us an overview of Kids Doctor and its features?
Tagita: Kids Doctor is a smartphone app with the theme of being close to children's health. It can be used in situations such as when you have a problem with your child's health when the hospital is not open, or when your child has a fever and you wonder if you should go to the hospital.
First of all, there is the "Health Consultation via Chat". If you have any questions about your child's health, you can use this service to consult with us. This service is available from 19:00 to 22:00 on weekdays and from 10:00 to 22:00 on weekends and public holidays. Some of our nurses have experience in providing health advice over the phone, and can provide general medical information and advice on whether or not to go to hospital for your child's condition.
Editor: As a parent it can be difficult to decide whether to go to hospital for a sudden fever, so this is very helpful.
Tamakita: I also have two children, and especially when the first one was small, I had a hard time deciding when he had a fever and was crying. Should I take him to the hospital immediately, or should I keep him in bed and watch him? If you go to an out-of-hours emergency hospital, you can expect to wait for two or three hours. ......
Editor: My daughter is 3 years old, so I understand very well. We found Kids Doctor to be a wonderful reassurance for parents.
Tagita: Thank you very much. One of the key features of Kids Doctor is that it is linked to medical services. General telephone consultation services provided by local governments and companies can help you decide whether you should see a doctor or not, but if you decide you should see a doctor, you need to find a nearby hospital by yourself. On the other hand, with Kids Doctor you can book an appointment with a doctor online, or you can work with a medical institution to arrange for a doctor to come to your home at night.
Editor: Does Kids Doctor work in partnership with hospitals in each area? For example, is the city of Chiba, where I live, in the service area?
Tamakita: Medical services such as online clinics and night-time house calls are being provided throughout Japan in partnership with local medical institutions. Unfortunately, the city of Chiba in Chiba Prefecture is not yet part of our service area, as there are legal restrictions on the range of medical services that can be provided within a certain distance from medical institutions. Unfortunately, the city of Chiba in Chiba Prefecture is not yet part of our service area, but we are working with medical institutions to expand our service to other areas.
Doctor-supervised advice on how to deal with a wide range of child health problems
Editor: When I actually look at the Kids Doctor app, I see that you provide information on various children's health problems under the title "Home Care Book". Fever, vomiting, runny nose, diarrhea, eczema, shallow breathing, head injury, constipation: ...... I think it covers almost all the situations that a parent might think "what do I do? It's great to be able to look at this and then chat to a medical professional about it.
Tagita: We receive a wide range of consultations through our chat service, and we have included in the Homecare Book some of the most frequently asked questions and concerns that parents may have. Of course, the content of the book is carefully supervised by doctors, and we hope to continue to provide reliable information in the future.
Editor: When you search the Internet, you often find information that is unreliable or that says the exact opposite of what you want to hear. As long as you check Kids Doctor, you'll be fine! As a parent or guardian, this is reassuring.
In the context of the new coronas, an online clinic is just what we've been waiting for
Editor: By the way, when did you start operating the online medical service provided by Kids Doctor?
Tabita: From April 2020. Until then, the first visit to an online clinic had to be done face-to-face, and the intended audience was mainly people with chronic diseases. In January 2022, the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare (MHLW) will announce new guidelines for online medical treatment, and the environment surrounding online medical treatment is likely to change dramatically in the future.
Editor: It's quite difficult to take a limp child to hospital, so this is also very much appreciated.
Takita: In the past, by taking a child with a fever or cough to an emergency hospital, there was a risk of passing on the disease to those who came with injuries or other trauma. Online medical care can be expected to prevent such risks, so we think that this service is a good match for the new corona era.
Editor: In which areas are Kids Doctor's online and evening visits available at the moment?
Tagita: Online medical services are available in all three prefectures, and night-time house calls are available in all three prefectures, plus some areas in Aichi, Fukuoka, Osaka, Hyogo and Hokkaido.
Editor: By the way, what is the approximate cost of extra transport for a night visit?
Tagita: The cost varies from 800 to 1000 yen depending on the area.
There are many advantages of "chat health" and "online medical care".
Editor: Can you tell us how Kids Doctor was developed?
Tagita: Our parent company, Eversense, released Kids Doctor in 2017. At that time, we were providing a night-time home visit service only in Tokyo. When Eversense was established in 2021, the business was transferred to us and we began full-scale development. Originally, Eversense was involved in childcare information media for pregnant women and parents of small children. There was a great deal of demand from users for information and medical support for their children's health, and this led to the development of Kids Doctor .......
Editor: What kind of feedback have you received from people who have used Kids Doctor?
Tagita : Due to the impact of the new coronas, the number of health consultation services for children has decreased. The hurdle to seeing a pediatrician has risen, and the public health centers have closed their counseling services, so many people say that they are grateful for Kids Doctor's easy access to health counseling.
Other comments include the fact that it is not always easy to get through to Kids Doctor over the phone, but the chat service is very smooth. In addition, some people said that they can read the contents of the consultation after it is over, which is a relief. We also received feedback from users who said that they appreciated the fact that Kids Doctor Online allows them to send their prescriptions to a nearby pharmacy and receive their medication, or that they can receive their medication on the spot during a night-time visit.
Editor: Parents are always in a panic when they are asking for advice about their child's illness, so it's really nice to be able to calmly read back the advice and answers later. On the phone, they might say, "What did I say, ......? If you call me, I'm afraid I'll have to ask "What did you say?
Kids' Doctor expands its services to further improve children's health
Editor: Finally, can you tell us about the future development of Kids Doctor?
Tagita: The basic concept is that we want to continue to be a service that helps parents to find their way when they are in doubt about their child's health. One of the directions we would like to take in the future is to expand the field of information content. The information we currently provide is mainly about dealing with children's health problems, but in the future we would like to provide information about food, clothing and shelter, which all contribute to children's health. In other words, we want to provide content that children can access even when they are healthy. We want to provide not only information, but also services and goods for sale.
For medical services, we will expand the number of areas where night-time house calls can be made and the number of areas where online medical services are available. We will also work to expand the hours of these services. At the moment, most of the areas are closed at midnight and only a few areas are open until 5am, but we would like to expand this. We will work with medical institutions to expand such services in terms of "time" and "area".
After the interview
I have found this service to be a lifesaver as my child often has a fever or runny nose at the wrong time and my hospital is out of hours. Especially for working families, it can be difficult to take your child to the hospital during opening hours. Furthermore, with the new coronas, there are not many hospitals that will treat a child with a fever immediately, so we felt that this is exactly the service that the times require. We hope that many parents will install this app on their phones as a good luck charm!
Kids' Doctor" official website
https://kids-doctor.jp/
