Dr Google doesn’t know best
Editor’s note: Following my Comment here last week on Unfashionable Health Care, this piece by our Jonathan Roe seemed highly appropriate as a follow on. Bob Holland
I’m certain most of us are guilty of consulting ‘Dr Google’ from time to time for various ailments. And those that have, know that if you follow the rabbit down the hole long enough, you are bound to arrive at the inevitable cancer diagnosis.
But just how much can ‘Dr Google’ really be relied upon? Well, it turns out not much.
A new study from Edith Cowan University (ECU), published in the Medical Journal of Australia last week, looked at the accuracy of 27 online symptom checkers. Their results showed online symptom checkers returned the correct diagnosis in the top listing in just 36 per cent of tests.
And, more worryingly, the correct diagnosis featured in the top ten results just 58 per cent of the time. That means that in 4 out of ten searches, the correct diagnosis did not make the top ten results at all!
The study also looked at triage advice, that is advising people when to seek medical help. Good advice was given just 49 per cent of the time although for emergency situations the sites tested provided good advice 60 per cent of the time.
The study also found triage advice tended to be overly cautious, which is certainly better than the alternative, but it was acknowledged that this may lead to people heading to the Emergency Department when they don’t need to.
Local doctor Steve Peterson says there is much more that goes into making a correct diagnosis than can be done by a simple online search.
“An internet search could give an opinion, but without the context of a patient, where they live, how hard is it for them to get to the doctor, how sick are they, what other illnesses they have, the picture is incomplete.… A patient benefits from an assessment by a doctor who knows them, knows their context, knows their individual risk factors, medical history and particular vulnerabilities, which they will never get in a Google Search,” said Dr Peterson.
“I don't do my own mechanical research and tinker with the car, I seek the advice of someone who knows what they are doing, I guess I'd encourage the same with medicine.”
Not that there is anything wrong with people taking an interest in their own health and seeking information, said Dr Peterson, but it is important to know the limitations of online health advice.
“If anyone has diagnosed themselves with ‘Dr Google’, that's fine — take the information they have or their queries or concerns to a doctor who knows them well and chat about it,” he said.
“Hopefully that doctor will be able to take that information and use their experience and skills to put that into the patient’s context, and follow-up whatever management is done. There is a lot to be gained by people having that relationship with a doctor they know and trust.”