'Googling' may help doctors diagnose

[Posted: Fri 10/11/2006 - www.irishhealth.com]

'Googling' may help doctors to diagnose difficult cases, the results of a new study indicate.

Doctors have been estimated to carry two million facts in their heads to help them diagnose various illnesses. However with medical knowledge expanding rapidly, even this may not be enough.

Google is currently the most popular search engine on the internet, giving users access to more than three billion medical articles.

Doctors in Australia identified 26 difficult diagnostic cases published in the New England Journal of Medicine in 2005. They included conditions such as Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease - a very rare form of dementia - and Cushing's syndrome, which is a rare hormonal disorder.

The doctors selected three to five search terms from each case and did a Google search, while blind to the correct diagnoses. They then selected and recorded the three diagnoses that were ranked most prominently and appeared to fit the signs and symptoms, before comparing the results with the correct diagnoses as published in the journal.

The searches on Google found the correct diagnosis in 58% of the cases.

The doctors believe that Google is likely to be a useful aid for conditions with unique signs and symptoms that can easily be used as search terms. However they emphasised that the efficiency of the search and the usefulness of the information retrieved depends on the researchers' knowledge base.

"Doctors and patients are increasingly using the internet to search for health-related information. Useful information on even the rarest medical syndromes can now be found and digested within a matter of minutes. Our study suggests that in difficult diagnostic cases, it is often useful to google for a diagnosis", the Australian doctors said.

Details of their study are published in the British Medical Journal.

Chana  Posted: 16/11/2006 14:49

Googling also helps to inform assist and empower patients hnd assists them in becoming educated about their health.

Anon  Posted: 16/11/2006 18:58

58% of cases! That doesn't inspire faith in the Medical system. Can't we all do that with our symptoms? So we only need doctors to prescribe or for surgery then and the rest can go on the dole??

Kitty  Posted: 18/11/2006 19:45

I agree with you Chana. Googling helps everyone who is interested in becoming better informed about their own health, and we need to remember that doctors are not 'Gods' who can wave that magic wand and cure all diseases they come in contact with, so if they can come off their pedestal and humble themselves to do extra research to help the patient, then I say more power to them and 'hats off' to good old Googling.

Anon  Posted: 21/11/2006 00:32

Googling is just that. The amount of information you get on any given subject when you google is not relative to truth or fact. That is the dangerous part of it. Information about medical care is not quality information if its just based on googling. A little knowledge is a dangerous thing if you don't have the ability to understand the bigger picture.

Chana  Posted: 21/11/2006 10:21

And oddly enoiugh Anon, sometimes the infor you get on the web is more up to date and accurate that what you'd get from soem GP's. It must be remember that there are reputable medical website such as this one, medscape and sites which publish material from JAMA, the BMJ and the Lancet as well as the more unreliable sites. It just takes a small bit of cop on to know the difference.

Anon  Posted: 21/11/2006 21:53

I don't actually know what your point is Chana. Doctors in hospitals and G.P.'s have access to medical sites that we, as the public, do not have access to. They don't have to rely on Google!

Chana  Posted: 22/11/2006 10:06

I was simply pointing out that contrary to your point, sometimes the info you get on the web (via googling or any other source or search engine) is more up to date and accurate than what you'd get from some GP's. Also there are reputable medical websites full of quality information (which you can find by googling or other search engines) such as this one, medscape and sites which publish material from JAMA, the BMJ and the Lancet, which are available to all members of the public, not just doctors - as well as the more unreliable sites which may not always be relative to truth or fact.

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