Increasing numbers of us are Googling our own weird headaches, rashes and unexplained symptoms before heading to the doctor.
And although physicians are secretly Googling difficult medical situations, many aren’t thrilled that we’re doing the same thing.
In fact, doctors used words like “nightmare,” “annoying,” “irritating” and “frustrating” when talking about the burden of dealing with patients who bring in stacks of Internet-based health information (and misinformation), according to a recent study in the Journal of Medical Internet Research.
Even though 80 percent of North Americans access health information on the Internet, some doctors see it as an unwelcome intrusion and resent the new interpretive role they have been put in. The practice, they say, not only increases their workload but also leads patients to confusion, distress and a tendency toward detrimental self-diagnosis.
Doctors aren’t necessarily threatened when patients use Internet health information to educate themselves once they have a diagnosis.
What bugs them is when their clients beat them to the punch.
“Patients were perceived as ‘challenging’ when they used Internet information for self-diagnosis or self-treatment or to test the knowledge of physicians,” the study found. Patients also were described as adversarial, neurotic and lacking trust in their provider.
This troubles but does not surprise 58-year-old Julia Schopick of Oak Park, Ill. She frequently turned to the Internet while advocating and caring for her late husband, Tim Fisher, who died last year after a 15-year battle with a brain tumor. In her experience, doctors rarely seemed appreciative of her efforts, even when she found solutions that worked.
“I hope that someday soon, more doctors will welcome our attempts to be Googling participants in our own health care and that they won’t think of us as ‘neurotic’ and ‘difficult,”‘ said Schopick, a public relations consultant who blogs at honestmedicine.com. But she worries that we are not there yet.
Still, trying to out-Google your doctor does have its dangers.
Just 2 percent of popular health sites display the source and date of information, according to a soon-to-be-released study commissioned by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. But only 25 percent of Internet users polled by the Pew Internet Project said they “always” or “most of the time” check the source and the date of the health information.
To make the most of the Internet, try to stick with reliable sites (see “Try these medical websites,” this page) and remember that Google isn’t the only game in town.
And patients should remember some do’s and don’t’s.
Do remember that older physicians might not be as Internet-savvy as younger ones.
Do be open-minded, even if you already have diagnosed yourself with a fatal disease.
Don’t bring in a 60-page printout and expect the doctor to have time to read it.
Don’t be adversarial; if your doctor feels as though he’s being tested or put on the spot, he’s more likely to be defensive.
Don’t settle for a doctor who won’t take the time to discuss the information you’ve retrieved or seems out of date. Good health-care providers really do appreciate informed, responsible and empowered patients. They know we have easy access to medical information that wasn’t previously available to the public. And they know that in the long run, this can strengthen the patient-doctor relationship and improve health care.
Try these medical websites
The Medical Library Association lists the top 10 “most useful” websites at mlanet.org., including:
American Academy of Family Physicians (familydoctor.org)
Kids-Health (kidshealth.org)
U.S. National Library of Medicine and National Institutes of Health (medlineplus.org), Medical Library (medem.com) and
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (healthfinder.gov).
According to University of Michigan medical librarian Patricia Anderson, who wrote the “Medical Library Association Encyclopedic Guide to Searching and Finding Health Information on the Web.” both physicians and health-care consumers should check out tools such as:
MedStory (medstory.com)
PubFocus (pubfocus.com)
Scientific Commons (en.scientificcommons.org)
ClusterMed (clustermed.info)
Healia (healia.com)
Kosmix (kosmix.com)
Mamma (mammahealth.com) and
Merck Manual of Medical Information (merckhomeedition.com)
