Google helps doctors

[Ujitsuna]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/6132856.stm.

Well, looks like instead of doctors we'll walk into a room with a computer and type in our symptoms, then getting a diagnosis and some treatment. Is that a laughable concept or could that soon be a reality? I'm probably reading into this too much, but I think this kind of thing could really become a reality soon. Google seemed to get 15 out of 26 correct, not too shabby for a search engine I'd say.

Of course we have the normal "Search engines are no replacement for doctors" quotes, but that is stating the obvious, right now they are not suitable replacements, but maybe one day this could very well be the norm.

[Tullaryx]

It's a nice concept, but I still think there's no replacing real doctors even if it means just diagnosing a patient's symptoms. Unless one was trained in the medical field we really can't describe every symptom afflicting us accurately to a search engine. The more obvious ones should be easy enough to describe, but unless every sympton is listed then the search engine's diagnosis will not be very accurate since it's basing it on incomplete data.
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[Schala-Kid]

This is rubbish. A doctor spends about 6-8 years learning to diagnose disease and the effects of treatments available and the interaction with other medication the patient may be taking. on top of that, for the rest of their career, they are constantly updating their knowledge of new diseases that may have been misdiagnosed before, new treatments, techniques, medications, so on.

It's a novelty mainly for the public to see what they may have, or as a second diagnosis or something.

I would hate if I went to see my doctor and he started googling symptoms. One doctor I Used to visit had a computer program where he checked off symptoms to update my record, and to write down what he thought i may have and the medicine he gave me. It's not like doctors can't use computers to aid in diagnosis. I just wouldn't want them googling it when I go to see a doctor. I mean, my doc gets $40 for about the 5-15 minutes he spends with me (I pay 8 dollars of that out of my pocket thanks to medicare in Australia). They're paid too much to just sit and google your symptoms. and if they misdiagnose you? Is it googles fault? nope. The doctor has to be held accountable.

[Angelus]

I'm an aspiring doctor, so I think this is a bit strange. Instead of googling symptoms, shouldn't they have a sort of international website where they can diagnose patients there or something? Over the years, Google has become less serious with expressions such as "Google it!" going around.

But whatever. Let some people do what they want.
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[Schala-Kid]

[Tullaryx]

[Sage]

The biggest problem I see with this is that people will look up their own symptoms and diagnose themselves before going to see a doctor when they hear that google is actually somewhat accurate. If they have symptoms A & B, but not C, then they could think "I should have C too " and cause themselves to eventually believe that they do. Power of the mind and all. That could lead to them reporting false information to the doctor, leading to the wrong diagnosis.

If doctors want to double check with google (within appropriate margins of error), I wouldn't really care, but first and foremost, it should be the doctor's call. If one tells me, "Just a sec, I want to consult Dr. Google" then I'm heading right out the door of that place.
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[kuwaizair]

I'm almost a hypocondriac. so googling symptoms is a bad idea for me.
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few runes short of a set of 27