Google Good Source For Doctors To Diagnose Hard Cases

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Article Date: 10 Nov 2006 - 10:00 PDT

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Doctors should consider using Google to search for information that might help them make accurate diagnoses, say researchers from Princess Alexandra Hospital, Brisbane, Australia. In fact, the researchers found Google to be a good source for 58% of difficult cases.

You can read about this study in the British Medical Journal (BMJ).

It is estimated that an average doctor needs to carry two million facts in his/her memory to assist in diagnosing illnesses. However, medical information is expanding at a speed with which doctors will never be able to keep up, say the researchers. Google, the most widely used search engine in the world, has over 3 billion medical articles.

In this study, doctors from the Princess Alexandra Hospital, Brisbane, Australia, wanted to find out how good Google is at helping doctors diagnose difficult cases. They found 26 hard-to-diagnose cases which had been published in the NEJM (New England Journal of Medicine), such as Cushing's syndrome and CJD (Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease).

Using 3-5 search terms, the doctors carried out a Google search for each case, without knowing beforehand what the correct diagnosis was. They chose the three most prominently ranked diagnoses that matched the signs and symptoms, and compared the results with those in the NEJM. They say that 58% of diagnoses carried out using Google searches were correct.

The researchers say Google is easy to use, useful and an excellent aid in finding the correct diagnoses for conditions with unique symptoms and signs. They also added that using Google in this way was only considered reliable for health care professionals with good medical knowledge.

"Googling for a diagnosis - use of Google as a diagnostic aid: internet based study"
Hangwi Tang, Jennifer Hwee Kwoon Ng
BMJ, doi:10.1136/bmj.39003.640567.AE (published 10 November 2006)
Click here to view abstract online

Written by: Christian Nordqvist
Editor: Medical News Today
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