Non-physicians may reach correct diagnoses by using Google: a pilot study. Swiss medical weekly : official journal of the Swiss Society of Infectious Diseases, the Swiss Society of Internal Medicine, the Swiss Society of Pneumology [Swiss Med Wkly] Journal article | | Title | Non-physicians may reach correct diagnoses by using Google: a pilot study. | | Author(s) | Siempos II, Spanos A, Issaris EA, Rafailidis PI, Falagas ME | | Institution | Alfa Institute of Biomedical (AIBS), Athens, Greece. | | Source | Swiss Med Wkly 2008 Dec 13; 138(49-50):741-5. | | Abstract | OBJECTIVE: We endeavoured to determine whether individuals who are not physicians are likely to arrive at correct diagnoses by using Internet resources.
METHODS: In this prospective study four non-physicians used Google to search for diagnoses. They reviewed the 26 diagnostic cases presented in the case records of the New England Journal of Medicine during 2005; they were blind to the correct diagnoses. The main measurement was the percentage of correct diagnoses arrived at by non-physicians by using Google. The diagnostic success of the four non-physicians was compared to that of four young physicians.
RESULTS: The average diagnostic success of non-physicians was 22.1% (95% confidence interval [CI] 4.5-39.7%). There was no statistically significant difference between the non-physicians regarding this outcome (p = 0.11). They took 8.9 +/- 6.7 (mean +/- standard deviation) minutes for case record reading and 17.4 +/- 7.9 minutes for Google searching per case. Non-physicians performed worse than physicians (50.9% [95% CI 37.4-64.5%]) in regard to diagnostic success (p <0.001).
CONCLUSION: Non-physicians, at least those who have similar characteristics to the participants in the present study, may occasionally reach correct diagnoses by performing a brief web-based search. Doctors should realise that patients may assume a more active role in their health decision-making process and take this development into consideration in physician-patient interaction. | | Language | eng | | Pub Type(s) | Journal Article
| | PubMed ID | 19130327 |
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