Prior to my current role I worked in a small town emergency department, I distinctly remember an elderly couple coming in dressed to go to a wedding. They had stopped by quickly because the husband was having some stomach pain for the past couple of days. The couple was convinced, after consultation with Google that he was having an abdominal aortic aneurism. I stopped what I was doing at triage and said I can pretty much guarantee you have not been having a AAA for the past few days. The couple became offended and asked how I could possibly know that. My response, you would have been dead by now. I am not proud with how I approached this situation, I should have taken more time to explain to the patient and his wife why their Google search was misleading, however I was in the middle of a 12hr emergency department shift and had been hearing about patients self diagnosis for Google all day.
If we are to teach healthcare to students online I feel one of the most important things we can do is address the growing trend in patients using online resources to research conditions or symptoms. This is done prior to, during and after their appointments with the health care team. Gone are the days of blind trust and adherence to what the doctor orders. Now that people have access to more medical knowledge then ever before, it is important that we all learn how best to interpret the information we can access.
A 2017 research paper by a group of researchers in Australia explored the affects of patients use of Dr. Google on the healthcare provider and patient relationship. Interestingly opposite to the common thought amongst researchers and practitioners patients that stated they often used web based resources when looking for information about symptoms and diagnosis reported a better relationship with the health care team.
It is important to note that the research did identify that patients are not always accessing the correct information online and as a result have different expectations from the team then what can be delivered. A suggestion from the researchers was that a more collaborative approach to resources should be considered. If health care professionals can point patients to reliable and accurate information it can help prevent patients from accessing misleading resources that can hinder their care.
It is an increasingly exciting time in health care as more and more resources become available for treatment. When we look at teaching future health care workers in an online format, it is clear that an understanding of the current relationship between the internet and health care is important. By focusing on this relationship we no only help patients navigate the system but also help students understand the types of resources that are available for their patients.
Resources
Lee, K., Hoti, K., Hughes, J. D., & Emmerton, L. (2017). Dr Google Is Here to Stay but Health Care Professionals Are Still Valued: An Analysis of Health Care Consumers’ Internet Navigation Support Preferences. Journal of medical Internet research, 19(6), e210. https://doi.org/10.2196/jmir.7489
Learning How To Care 
Hi Gregory,
Very interesting post. As someone who is exploring tech in education I think you’ve presented two pretty unique view points. On the one had technology is making waves in your industry when it comes to offering remote digital education to students. We can reach more people, provide more knowledge. On the other hand, google diagnostics might be causing some headaches in the field as well. Good example of digital transformations providing good and bad progress. I think your suggestion of having doctors sending patients to trusted and accurate resources is a great solution, as oppose to condemning personal research all together.
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Thank you for your reply!
I would never look to stop patient engagement in their own care the goal instead should be to ensure they have accurate resources to work with in order to make an informed decision. One of the biggest troubles with internet research is targeted information. If you google any medical condition likely in the top 10 results you will find a naturopath advertising a cure for what ales you. This can be very difficult as rarely are the cures founded in scientific research and further are rarely reproduced in study.
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