It’s been seven years since Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh UPMC first released a mobile app with a tool that helped worried parents check possible check the possible symptoms of a sick child.

Now the hospital is rolling a newly updated app for Apple and Google devices that’s the first part of a bigger strategy to update mobile health tools.

The updated ChildrensPgh app now features quick access to a patient portal, locations with directions, and faster site search to find pediatric specialists for any condition.

Other upgrades a symptom checker to help parents determine when a child is sick or injured. It also puts parents in touch with experts at Children’s Hospital, a medications reminder for maintaining a list of prescriptions and providing dosage information for common over-the-counter medicines and emergency services locater for quick connections to poison centers, 911 and emergency rooms across the U.S.

“We understand the need for quick access to reliable health information,” says vice president of medical affairs Dr. Brian Martin. “We designed our app to answer that need and to help users connect to all things Children’s Hospital with an easy tap.

In 2011 Children’s Hospital developed its Apple and Google symptom checkers app derived from the clinical data and treatment procedures used by pediatricians and nurses in 10,000 practices and 400 nurse advice call centers in the U.S. and Canada.

The user chooses the most appropriate symptom care guide from among 91 available, touches the symptom decision chart to find the recommended action, and then follows the self-care advice. The symptoms can be located quickly by using an alphabetical index or body area index and keyword search.

In addition to the care guides, the app features pediatric dosage tables by weight for common over-the-counter medications, visual images to help identify symptoms such as for rashes, injuries and common causes of bites and stings and first-aid illustrations to support immediate action, if needed, the hospital says.

With the updates to its ChildrensPgh app now complete, the hospital also plans to roll out additional features this year including push notifications, pediatrics locations and wait times for the emergency room and express care centers.

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