23:21, in the ER…
41 y.o. female, pretty fancy dressed with acute stomachache, bitter taste and some and nausea.
.. several blood tastes .. ultrasonography .. CT exam ..
.. contradicts the doctor upon the diagnostic because she read something on the internet about those symptoms.
It is know that seven in ten U.S. adults track at least one health indicator (according to Pew Research Center).
On one hand there’s the doctor opinion about all this on-line diagnose and there are three concerns :
First, self-diagnosis produces anxiety in the patient.
Second, it interferes with doctor-patient relationship.
Finally self-diagnosis is commonly linked to commercial interests.
Jutel A “Dr. Google” and his predecessors. Diagnosis (Berl). 2017.27;4(2):87-91.
On the other hand, everyone of us (even the doctors) search the internet for answers they don’t know. Some of us search for terms like “stomach ache” others for “upper-right quadrant abdominal pain”. But in the end all we need to know is where to look for answers and understand that the Internet offers us just one profane perspective of what actually happens inside us.
Online health care information was frequently sought before presenting to an ED, especially by younger and e-health literate patients. Searching had a positive impact on the doctor-patient interaction and was unlikely to reduce adherence to treatment.
Cocco AM1 et al. Dr Google in the ED: searching for online health information by adult emergency department patients. Med J Aust. 2018 15;209(8):342-347.
In my opinion it is important that all people study their symptoms on specialized sites in order to understand if there is or it isn’t an emergency and go to the right physician.
My favorite symptom checker is Medhue, a perfectly balanced AI that studies not only your symptoms, but your lab results too and in the end gives you more than one diagnostic if it is the case, and several differential diagnostics and guides you towards the right physician.
RESTLESS DUCK 