In one of the medical blogs, I saw a post about how Google is making life difficult for practicing doctors in India. The post
indicated that patients are searching the internet about their symptoms before they actually consult a physician. Doctors often have to spend a lot of time educating the patient about the difference between their actual illness and what they have diagnosed themselves with a google search. The post indicated that the Indian doctors are well educated and equipped with quintessential qualities of medical practice and patients should trust them and their treatment instead of diagnosing themselves through the means of internet. Some of the doctors find it annoying when patients ask them about an alternative treatment that was suggested on the internet.

My reply to the post was:

One of the biggest achievements for the engineers and scientists of this world during the last 25 years is to make communication available to anyone and everyone in this world. They have made varied data that one choses to see, hear or read about instantly available through the click of a mouse. We therefore cannot complain that the patients are asking us a lot of questions and information about their disease or illness. I have heard from patients that some of the doctors get angry when they are asked to explain about the treatment that they had prescribed.

Doctors have got to learn to live with the fact that some of the patients may know a lot more than them about their illness as they would have spent all their time seeking information about their symptom or illness from the internet. The doctor would have spent a lot of time reading and learning about several hundred different diseases but cannot be expected to know every minute detail about all of them. So instead of getting agitated or angry that you are being asked a difficult question for which you do not have an answer, tell him/her that you do not know the answer to the question but will find the answer and discuss about it on their next visit. The patient will be happy to hear this and will appreciate that you are willing to do some research for their benefit. This would also help the doctor to learn a little more about the condition. This is yet another way to keep up with “Continued Medical Education” and also make the patient feel that you are really interested to find a solution to their problem! So do not blame “Dr Google”. Both patient and the doctor are benefiting from the knowledge provided by “Dr Google”