Do Your Patients Consult Google Before They Consult You? An Expert Interview (doctor, diet)
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There are several “down” sides to patients’ heavy use of healthcare information gleaned from the Internet, including misinformation, the tendency toward self-diagnosis or self-treatment, request for additional treatments of medications during appointments, increased seeking of second opinions, and diminishing of satisfaction and trust in their physician’s approach, if it differs with the results of their own independent Internet searches.1 It might even be said that for some patients, Google is the “first opinion” and their own physician is the “second opinion.”
There is a lot of bad information on the Internet. (Even some on C-D)
You know, it would be better to educate people on how to use health information online well rather than discouraging them from using it at all. But maybe I am naïve.
When I was still practicing many of my patients consulted Google prior to seeing me. Often they were pretty well informed on what might be going on. I learned to pay attention when someone would walk in and say "I think I have gallstones" -- often they were correct.
I had one patient who said they were pretty sure they had Lyme disease. By google, they were right.
Sometimes, though, their search led them to believe they had some really horrible illness. The internet can be pretty scary sometimes.
I don't consult Google. I consult Bing. Even though I search for the symptoms, if they really bother me, I'll still call the doctor. But I won't tell them that I searched online first or hint that I did.
There is a lot of bad information on the Internet. (Even some on C-D)
I always back-up what I think maybe a treatment or course of action I read about on the net with my doctors. They know I am very active in trying to treat my medical problems with diet and exercise, and they are very supportive. Most of the time I am on the right course, and a few my RA doctor said what I had read was no where close to reality. None of my doctors try to dissuade me from researching via the net, but I also try to be very discerning on what I read.
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At least Google is an improvement. They used to come with an article or ad from The National Enquirer. Sheesh!
The problem with pts who read is that they usually get limited info and have limited ability to interpret highly technical matters.
I've told this joke here before:
Under the new attitude that pts have rights and want to be involved in decision making, etc, the situation may arise where a guy comes in and insists he needs a castration operation. Unwilling to risk alienation and a law suit, the doc agrees. He admits the guy and performs the procedure. ...The next AM, he wakes up and starts talking to his room-mate. "What are you here for?" he asks...."Oh, I had a circumcision done."..."Circumcision?" repeats our hero as he furls his brow and searches his own soul. "Circumcision...THAT"s the word! THAT's the word!"
Before Google, Bing etc I owned and still have them, health care books..this is why I rarely go to the doctors. I check in with her once a year and otherwise it's the net and friends and family.
Maybe OP doesn't want to hear from me and only providers but I didn't think there were that many here.
Back in the late nineties I went to the internet when the pediatrician, and the two specialist he sent my son to see, seemed stumped by his symptoms. When I went back to the doctor and told him I thought there was a possibility my son had a rare genetic condition he was extremely skeptical and I'm sure he thought I was probably one of 'those' patients.
To his credit he went ahead and ran a few simple test to confirm the presence of certain markers and when they showed positive off we went to see a slew of various specialist. Thanks to his willingness to consider my 'diagnosis' my son is much more likely to be aware of possible complications of the disease and to live to a ripe old age.
So here's to all the healthcare professionals who are at least willing to listen with an open mind!
If a doctor won't give you info, Google is sometimes all you have. If you want an idea before you go, there's Google. If you want detailed information on something after you see the doctor, there's Google.
Especially since it doesn't seem doctors these days have a lot of time to spend, or if by reading you can learn more than what they will tell you.
The trick is knowing how to evaluate what you're reading. Plenty of people will take whatever they find on the internet as gospel without checking whether the site is reputable or biased. It's one thing to get your info from a medical journal, and another to get it from buyapplecidervinegar.com.
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