Patients' Googling of illnesses tries some doctors' patience
By Julie Deardorff
December 19, 2006

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 patients who bring
in stacks of Internet-based health information (and misinformation),
according to a 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.

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.

The Medical Library Association lists the top 10 "most useful" Web
sites at mlanet.org. These sites include the American Academy of
Family Physicians (familydoctor.org), Kids-Health (kidshealth.org),
the U.S. National Library of Medicine and National Institutes of
Health (medlineplus.org), Medical Library (medem.com) and the U.S.
Department of Health and Human Services (healthfinder.gov).
And patients should remember some do's and don'ts:

 # 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 discuss the information you
   have retrieved or seems out of date.