Have you ever been curious to know whether someone you know has a sexually transmitted disease? Or more importantly, a potential hook-up? it's not an easy topic to discuss freely, but with new website QPid.me, the conversation just got that much easier.
A tool that's been called the modern "I'll show you mine if you show me yours," QPid.me hopes to make the awkward "Have you been tested?" question easier, allowing you to have your test results at your fingertips.
QPid.me creator, Ramin Bastani, has always been an entrepreneur with a knack for solving problems. The idea behind QPid.me came after Bastani was slapped in the face for admitting to a girl he was hooking up with that he was concerned she might have an STD; an unfortunate, completely awkward event that led to a great idea.
QPid.me is something that allows people to have their own medical history at their fingertips, a tool that will ultimately increase the likelihood of individuals getting tested, decrease the chance of dishonesty about being tested and lessen the awkward tension that is usually inescapable during these conversations.
According to Bastani, signing up for QPid.me is easy and fast.
"Let's say you want to get your status verified by Qpid.me," he said. "In under three minutes, you can go on the site and give us basic information about yourself and tell us where you were tested, and we auto populate the medical release form for you and you sign it on the website. Then you hit send and it is directly faxed to the healthcare provider. They fill out the information you request and fax it directly back to you."
Records that aren't necessarily easy to obtain are suddenly readily available whenever needed. You can even text a certain number and your results can be sent to your phone.
"We just make it really easy to access your medical records that sometimes aren't so easy to get," Bastani said. "We empower you to share that information in a totally private way with whoever you want."
QPid.me is a way to have more assurance both you and your partner are healthy.
It is incredibly useful, especially for college students, because it encourages responsibility, regular screening and makes sure any health re- cords you need to see are readily available.
Bastani also pointed out that there is no way anyone else can access your records unless you show them yourself. it is completely private.
"You can share with someone else, but they can't check you randomly," he said. "They can't just look for you. You can't have different people you hooked up with trying to find you."
What's really fascinating about this website is how social media is being used to slow down or stop the spread of multiple diseases and make people aware of their bodies and health. Results stay up to date as well because QPid.me requires each user to be tested at least annually or they won't allow your information to be shared with others.
And not only is the website expanding, but there is an iPhone app coming out soon that has a hilarious, unique way to share results with other people.
"In about three months we'll have an iPhone app, and I can basically put my iPhone on top of yours and start humping or, like, doing sixty-nine, and it sends results to your phone," Bastani said. "That's the kind of stuff we want to do to make this more fun."
QPid.me tests for HIV, gonorrhea, chlamydia, syphilis, hepatitis C antibody, HPV vaccine and hepatitis A vaccine. It does not, however, verify herpes or HPV because tests for these diseases aren't necessarily accurate or results may not show up immediately.
The whole idea of QPid.me, according to Bastani, is to encourage and empower people to make better health decisions. Signing up is free and can ultimately save a lot of time, trouble and awkward tension between future partners.
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