Google Doctor on the horizon?

Author: Ryan Garside
Published: 13th November 2006
Comments (13) Stumble
If you're not feeling very well, forget the doctors, Google is the place to go.

If you're not feeling very well, forget the doctors, Google is the place to go.

A medical research study proposes that Google could actually help doctors diagnose illnesses. The test, which you can download at the British Medical Journal's site, attempted to clarify what role internet search engines can play in health care.

The result is actually quite startling; Google correctly diagnosed 58 percent of the medical cases proposed, in the other 42% Google gave a diagnosis but not one doctors considered detailed enough to be correct. The article isn't particularly long and is well worth a read, with the conclusion advising that doctors receive training in Google searching to make the most of the resource:

"Physicians have been estimated to carry two million facts in their heads to fulfill this role [diagnostician]. With medical knowledge expanding rapidly, even this may not be enough. Search engines allow quick access to an ever increasing knowledge base. Google gives users ready access to more than three billion articles on the web and has far exceeded PubMed as the search engine of choice for retrieving medical articles."

The question of how satisfied you would be as a patient if you found your doctor checking the net is certainly one that the media will pose. In reality though doctors will still require the extensive knowledge and training they already receive and the use of Google will be simply as a supplement. As humanity's knowledge of medicine evolves it becomes increasingly important that doctors have access to as many resources as possible.

How would you feel if you saw your doctor checking Google after a checkup? Let us know in the forums.
Quote DeX 13th November 2006, 14:27
Surely there are better more sophisticated medical expert systems that can much more quickly and accurately diagnose conditions? Ok so I guess Google is free but still.

And what exactly do they mean by 'diagnose'? Google itself doesn't do any diagnosis. Surely it just relies on the diagnoses of random medical experts, and regular people that it happens to match with a given input of symptoms which may or may not be related to the condition you're looking for.
Quote Bindibadgi 13th November 2006, 14:30
hypocondriacs ++

EDIT: Google didn't correct me :(
Quote supermonkey 13th November 2006, 15:19
I'm surprised it took this long, really. Many veterinarians have been using a similar system for quite some time. As you list the symptoms your animal is suffering, the vet plugs them into a database. As the list of symptoms is entered, a corresponding list of ailments is displayed. Using their own knowledge base and experience, the vet is then able to pick from among the displayed ailments and begin treating the animal.

I could see Google being used in a similar manner in the future.

Hypochondriacs have been using WebMD for ages. News like this may bolster their notion that the internet is a good tool to diagnose problems, but they didn't really need any convincing otherwise.

The thing that gets me is the statistics. Google returned a correct diagnosis 58% of the time. That's great, and with work that number may go up. But, from the other perspective, it returned inconclusive results 42% of the time. I'm generally not the gambling type, and 42% is still too big a numer for my taste.

-monkey
Quote korhojoa 13th November 2006, 15:55
Quote:
Originally Posted by Bindibadgi
hypocondriacs ++
"Did you mean: hypochondriacs ?"
Quote Tyinsar 13th November 2006, 16:10
I'd prefer that doctors used a more dedicated expert system - using a semi-random search engine is a little less confidence inducing. I have no problems with doctors using an expert system as an aid as long as they remain the doctor - there are often variables that are too complex for the computers we have today.
Quote Lazarus Dark 13th November 2006, 16:42
sounds good to me, I want my doctor to have all the additional info possible, as long as its not a substitute for med students not learning the basics; especially since there is plenty of bad info on the net, a doctor definately needs to know what sites and what info to trust and to verify it. And its not like I can google to diagnose myself on serious problems, I dont understand medical jargon and this is quite dangerous, as i could easily misdiagnose myself and not get the proper treatment. so yea, I say google sets up a new search for diseases, symptoms, and such like there new code search.

Google F T W(orld)
Quote mikeuk2004 13th November 2006, 16:56
Sounds like a simular case reported not so long ago about China using systems to give Sentencing. Now we have them here diagnosing patients. Where will it end :)
Quote Krikkit 13th November 2006, 17:13
Quote:
Originally Posted by mikeuk2004
Sounds like a simular case reported not so long ago about China using systems to give Sentencing. Now we have them here diagnosing patients. Where will it end :)
Those two cases are a little different to be honest mike.

Imho this is only a good thing - you can't expect doctors to remember every single fact they learnt in medical school for diagnoses (I'm talking about GP's here really, not specialists). It's only like looking things up in a big textbook.
Quote nazomcg 13th November 2006, 17:20
TBh i think this is the way forward. With the number of ailments and illnesses that doctors today are supposed to know off by heart rising rapidly it is ludicrous to expect them to do so. Using google means that if a doctor is unsure they can at least try it out instead of missing a diagnosis that may result in the death of a patient.
Quote Neogumbercules 13th November 2006, 19:01
I wouldn't mind at all if Doctors used some kind of online data-base to diagnose a medical condition I have. Has anyone ever seen that show Medical Mysters on Discovery Health? In a huge percentage of the cases on that show people would go from one doctor to another to try to get a correct diagnosis for their strange medical condition. If they could just type in a few symptoms and get back some accurate information about rare dieseses I'd be very happy.
Quote supermonkey 13th November 2006, 20:08
Quote:
Originally Posted by nazomcg
TBh i think this is the way forward. With the number of ailments and illnesses that doctors today are supposed to know off by heart rising rapidly it is ludicrous to expect them to do so. Using google means that if a doctor is unsure they can at least try it out instead of missing a diagnosis that may result in the death of a patient.
This got me thinking. Lately, I've been seeing more and more advertisements for any number of medications. As we discover more about the human body, I'm sure doctors will find new diseases; but, do we really need so many new ailments? Is Restless Leg Syndrome really something to worry about?

Sometimes I wonder if any of these ailments are created so that drug companies can offer a new pill.

-monkey
Quote r4tch3t 13th November 2006, 20:27
Quote:
Originally Posted by supermonkey
Sometimes I wonder if any of these ailments are created so that drug companies can offer a new pill.
Quite simply, yes yes they do.
As for googling my symptoms, I would use it to find out what I could have before going to a doctor.
Quote DXR_13KE 14th November 2006, 00:00
this is good... and it is bad, sites can be hacked and wreak havoc among doctors.... "hey i think you should take some iron pills of that cough.... it says here on this website...."

they should make a permanent and verified database for these kind of things.... it would be great for people that are learning to be doctors and for doctors that want to learn something new....
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