Non-physicians may reach correct diagnoses by using Google: A pilot study

Siempos, II; Spanos, A; Issaris, EA; Rafailidis, PI; Falagas, ME

dc.contributor.author	Siempos, II	en
dc.contributor.author	Spanos, A	en
dc.contributor.author	Issaris, EA	en
dc.contributor.author	Rafailidis, PI	en
dc.contributor.author	Falagas, ME	en
dc.date.accessioned	2014-03-01T01:28:52Z
dc.date.available	2014-03-01T01:28:52Z
dc.date.issued	2008	en
dc.identifier.issn	1424-7860	en
dc.identifier.uri	https://dspace.lib.ntua.gr/xmlui/handle/123456789/19011
dc.relation.uri	http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?eid=2-s2.0-58149265122&partnerID=40&md5=4e6bd7b6491dac082ae2da89f4692f36	en
dc.subject	Diagnostic test	en
dc.subject	Differential diagnosis	en
dc.subject	Public	en
dc.subject	Sensitivity	en
dc.subject	World wide web	en
dc.subject.classification	Medicine, General & Internal	en
dc.subject.other	adult	en
dc.subject.other	article	en
dc.subject.other	confidence interval	en
dc.subject.other	decision making	en
dc.subject.other	female	en
dc.subject.other	health	en
dc.subject.other	human	en
dc.subject.other	human experiment	en
dc.subject.other	Internet	en
dc.subject.other	male	en
dc.subject.other	medical informatics	en
dc.subject.other	medical record	en
dc.subject.other	physician	en
dc.subject.other	pilot study	en
dc.subject.other	prospective study	en
dc.subject.other	reading	en
dc.subject.other	Consumer Health Information	en
dc.subject.other	Decision Support Techniques	en
dc.subject.other	Diagnosis	en
dc.subject.other	Female	en
dc.subject.other	Humans	en
dc.subject.other	Internet	en
dc.subject.other	Male	en
dc.subject.other	Pilot Projects	en
dc.subject.other	Prospective Studies	en
dc.subject.other	Students	en
dc.subject.other	Universities	en
dc.subject.other	Young Adult	en
dc.title	Non-physicians may reach correct diagnoses by using Google: A pilot study	en
heal.type	journalArticle	en
heal.language	English	en
heal.publicationDate	2008	en
heal.abstract	Objective: We endeavoured to determine whether individuals who are not physicians are likely to arrive at correct diagnoses by using Internet resources. Methods: In this prospective study four non-physicians used Google to search for diagnoses. They reviewed the 26 diagnostic cases presented in the case records of the New England Journal of Medicine during 2005; they were blind to the correct diagnoses. The main measurement was the percentage of correct diagnoses arrived at by non-physicians by using Google. The diagnostic success of the four non-physicians was compared to that of four young physicians. Results: The average diagnostic success of non-physicians was 22.1% (95% confidence interval [CI] 4.5-39.7%). There was no statistically significant difference between the non-physicians regarding this outcome (p = 0.11). They took 8.9 +/- 6.7 (mean +/- standard deviation) minutes for case record reading and 17.4 +/- 7.9 ininutes for Google searching per case. Non-physicians performed worse than physicians (50.9% [95% CI 37.4-64.5%]) in regard to diagnostic success (P < 0.001). Conclusion: Non-physicians, at least those who have similar characteristics to the participants in the present study, may occasionally reach correct diagnoses by performing a brief web-based search. Doctors should realise that patients may assume a more active role in their health decision-making process and take this development into consideration in physician-patient interaction.	en
heal.publisher	E M H SWISS MEDICAL PUBLISHERS LTD	en
heal.journalName	Swiss Medical Weekly	en
dc.identifier.isi	ISI:000262077600003	en
dc.identifier.volume	138	en
dc.identifier.issue	49-50	en
dc.identifier.spage	741	en
dc.identifier.epage	745	en