Are patient-provider relationships at risk?

Patients who look to the internet (also known as e-patients) are more educated on health related issues and their own health. E-patients use the internet on a wide range of medical related topics. Many patients find the information the same or even better than the information provided by their primary care physicians. While some patients do not discuss the information they find, others communicate what they learn with their doctors.The patients that do indeed communicate with their providers find the information to be of better quality. Primary care providers should consider that patients are using the World Wide Web as a source of medcial and health information, as well as taking suggestions from medical websites. As a result of this information from the internet, patient-provider relationship may change and medical providers could face a new challenge as their patients continue to obtain health information from various websites without sharing any info with the doctors. Others may potentially turn to the internet for care without consulting their providers.

The biggest problem with internet health sites is the risk if miss leading information

Many people look to the internet to help them understand many things better including health care. The problem with looking on the internet for health care is that it can be very miss leading and force someone to believe that their problem is smaller or bigger then what it is. I mean honesty do you think doctors would spend the amount of time that it take to learn and understand the human body if something as simple as typing in your symptoms onto a online database will diagnose health care problems? Don’t get me wrong its perfect for learning more about a problem that a professional doctor diagnose you with. But the problem is people are using sites like WEB Md for first diagnoses.

WHY?

Many people use these types of sites because they do not have health insurance to go to the doctor. In 2006, the percentage of Americans without health insurance was 15.8%, or approximately 47 million uninsured people (http://sickothemovie.com/_media/SiCKO_sickofactoids.pdf).Most of these people don’t have no other way to a least try and figure out whats wrong with them. When I went to webmd and typed in stomach pain 171 different problems that I could have had come up. I think this is where the problem come in at. It may be easy for webmd to figure out what symptoms go along with a disease but it don’t know how to eliminate the diseases that are not your problem. Something professional doctors can do.

can health site case more harm than good

One of the main concern is will the internet change the way of medicine. Will the doctor patients practice go back into the early 1800’s when the doctor visit the patients at home, Because people will fear to go outside because of the internet. According to Dr. Paolo Zamboni he believe that some patients who share their information online through email, social networking, and discussion boards are “in some case altering the research agenda in fields such as cancer, with alternative medicine and multiple sclerosis.” The internet health care has changed the way patients think about their symptoms and the medicine they take. Most drug use for cancer patients needs to be tested first by using experimental drug or therapies. So science can make sure they are save and useful to each patient. One drug that might work for one patient with the same diagnose may not work on another patient.


According to marketing Charts “More than 50% of youth ages 13-24 uses the internet for health information.” According to a recent survey by pew internet and American life project about 61% of adult Americans look online for health information. It help if the patients work in conjunction with his or her doctor. So that you’ll know that your on the same page. 20% People who search the internet for health information are called e-patients. Some of these e-patients have disabilities and chronic conditions who uses these site more than others. They actually meet up on the internet and social networking site and talk to medical experts as well as other patients. These e-patients don’t always share their all their finding with their doctor. When the end up with different results , because they’re nervous about challenging with what the doctor told them and what they found. To avoid this problem you could used internet sites that are directed for doctors so that you don’t find contradictory information.


I think that Some patients use the internet to become more informed of their health and or conditions. There has been many programs like My Health info and Google Health. Site like this help people save trips to the hospital, because they can track their blood pressure or cholesterol over time. The iphone or the iphone stethoscope has over 3,000 applications that deals with health. Where a patient can mange his or her medical history and Medications.

Can diagnosing over the internet cause stress?

Self diagnosing through the Internet can be an easy way to come up with a fast diagnosis without leaving home, but with the amounts of information that exist on the web finding reliable sources can be tricky. When looking up symptoms you are experiencing you might become overwhelmed at the amount of serious conditions that you might think you may have, but in reality it could be anything as simple as the common cold. Why stress yourself out with thoughts that can have you feeling that the end is near. Instead visit your physician and let him do his job remember you are not a doctor. Now if your doctor has given you a diagnosis then its a whole different story. The Internet can be useful to look up information to educate yourself, and can serve as a second opinion. Just make sure that the sites you visit are reliable and not just any made up page from someone claiming to be a doctor.

So what are your thoughts people? do you believe that some individuals rely too much on the Internet for self diagnosing? do you think that some people stress out about certain conditions they think they may have? What about using the Internet for a second opinion? Do you think its a good idea?

Who Do You Trust for Online Health Information?

 While surfing the internet, do you find yourself second-guessing the validity of the articles that you read or just simply take it at face value?  I strongly suggest you consider taking a closer look at the source from which the material was derived.

 Unfortunately, there are sites designed to market specific treatments and pharmaceuticals to its viewers. This can pose as a serious threat to your health if you attempt to self-diagnose at home. While it is our responsibility as individuals to take a proactive stance in terms of health care, we must take the time to identify and evaluate the validity of the source.

I am happy to mention that there are many scholarly sources such as MayoClinic and Centers for Disease Control which have links to other credible sites that may help you in your search.

What are your thoughts regarding the deliberate online marketing tactics used by some pharmaceutical companies to gain your business? Do you think the dialogue presented by MedicalFanatics has helped you to closely critique the information listed on websites?