Why You Shouldn’t Rely on Google Doctor When You’re Sick
When you are not feeling well, the first thing you can do is check your symptoms using a search engine. A recent study, however, shows real doctors are still far more accurate than any symptom checkered instruments out there.
The study, published in the journal American Medical Association Internal Medicine , tested 234 doctors and 23 online symptom checkers, including the popular WebMD and Mayo Clinic, on 45 hypothetical patients with their own symptoms and medical history. Physicians were able to correctly diagnose 72% of patients (note, this is 72% without performing any tests), while only 34% were able to correctly diagnose symptoms. And when it came to serious illnesses, doctors were far more accurate than even the best symptom-checking tools.
The results may not sound too surprising, but using symptom checkers can be a major problem . While tools like WebMD and Mayo Clinic can point people in the right direction, they can assume they don’t need medical attention because they think they are getting all the information they need online. It’s okay to use these tools from time to time to get some information , but don’t rely on them. They won’t tell you the whole story. If you think you have a health problem, you should definitely see your doctor, even if you don’t think it is so serious. You can view the full study yourself at the link below.
Comparison of the accuracy of medical and computer diagnostics | JAMA Internal Medicine via Los Angeles Times