STARS Patient Information
Blackouts Check app
New i-phone application now available!
The Blackouts Check app has been designed to help guide patients to identify blackouts that require further medical attention and prompt doctors to ask the right questions to reach a correct diagnosis.
A blackout is a transient loss of consciousness. Most blackouts are due to syncope, (sin-co-pee), where the blood flow to the brain is temporarily halted. Other causes are epilepsy and psychological disturbances. When a patient has a blackout, doctors try hard to find the correct diagnosis. Often, however, when the patient is seen by the doctor they have completely recovered, and the doctor's examination and tests don't show anything. In all cases, however, there may be sign-posts that can tell if the blackouts are risky or not risky.
The Blackouts Check app has been developed specifically to enable patients, family members and doctors to go through questions relating to the high-risk causes of blackouts. Any high risk characteristic of the patient gets a "Red Flag" signifying that the patient should seek medical attention. If no Red Flags are found, then at the end of the Check app, the patient gets a "Green Flag". This means that the blackouts are very likely to be of a simple, harmless type.
The app is available for £2.99 from the itunes store:
Download Blackouts Check app*. With each download £1.82 of funds go to the Syncope Trust And Reflex anoxic Seizures (STARS)
*iTunes software is required to download the Blackouts Check app