Dr Google scares me

[Emergent]

Many of our patients consult with Dr Google. So do I. He scares the daylights out of me sometimes.

How is Dr Google helping or hurting healthcare today?

[vampiregirl, BSN, RN]

I think since we know that patients are going to look stuff up on the Internet anyway that we should provide them with reliable sources to find their information. Because that is where I think so much of the problem comes from. Misinformation from bogus sites.

I use Google all the time but like a previous poster stated I know what sources to use.

Exactly! Sometimes patient's are receptive to education about to find reliable sources on the web. And appropriate sites can be a great resource for further information about a diagnosis, especially a new one.

And other times, it's a lost cause because "if it's on the internet it has to be true!":facepalm:

[brownbook]

I forgot that, as Emergent mentioned, I think YouTube University is great.

[CharleeFoxtrot, BSN, RN]

YouTube university is a wonderful source of instructional videos. I'll bet they have a one on Morgan lenses!

I admit I googled it and yes, yes they do.

[Pepper The Cat, BSN, RN]

Dr Google correctly diagnosed my first cat's diabetes!

[adventure_rn, MSN, NP]

Dr. Google doesn't inherently scare me. I appreciate that health education resources are so widely available on the internet, and I recommend certain sites to my patients' families. It can be hard to reign people in once they start to spiral into the land of medical what-ifs (i.e. the family of a 35-weeker who asks if their child will have CP since she's a preemie), but most people are fairly reasonable and open to teaching.

However, what makes me crazy are these wacko sites like Gwyneth Paltrow's 'Goop' that make false health claims, and the masses start buying into them just because they see other people buying into them. Much like the anti-vax community, these pseudoscience 'wellness' communities seem to spring up and then feed into their own unscientific rhetoric. Once people are convinced that these sites are factual, it's almost impossible to convince them otherwise.

Goop just got fined $145,000 by CA and the FDA for claiming that their $60 crystal lady partsl 'eggs' and essential oil blend cure incontinence, hormone regulation issues, and depression. And people still buy them!!!

I just can't .

[ruby_jane, BSN, RN]

What a wonderful time to be aliiiiive. Never have we had more information at our fingertips.

And never have we had so many people who cannot or will not think critically about all that information.

[middleagednurse]

[ATTACH=CONFIG]27693[/ATTACH]

"With whom"

[TruvyNurse]

One word...vaccines. Blogger moms say healthcare workers are "corrupt." I was once accused as an RN of receiving a kick back for every shot I gave. I wish!

[djh123]

I don't think it's that bad. But I will say that I think those of us in this field are probably better at recognizing reputable websites, plus looking at several different ones when we're looking something up (kind of a meta-analysis), whereas Joe Average out there might take something from whutswrongwhitchu.com as gospel.

[ShadowNurse]

I do seriously have a concern about how online "information" is fueling the anti-vaccine backlash. I love my non-nursing friends dearly, but too many of them do not vaccinate their kids because of it. They say they respect my experience as a pediatrics nurse, but then completely ignore me when I say that vaccines are important for their kids. It scares the living snot out of me. Our local children's hospital just had two cases of a polio-like syndrome, and I wouldn't be surprised if some form of poliomyelitis does make a comeback.

I do really enjoy sites like the Mayo Clinic and so on for obscure illnesses I have not come across before. My last job used Micro-Medex to look up new medications, and that was always useful. Plus you can't beat YouTube for demonstrations of skills/procedures.

[kakamegamama]

I remember an episode of St. Elsewhere in the early 80's where a patient had a computer in his room. He could communicate with up to 1500 people who also had computers!

The patient said something along the lines of "Someday, every home will have a computer, just like a telephone or a TV!"

"Nah", I thought, "Computers are just a fad!"

My first husband worked for a company that developed chips from the get go for computers. I'll never forget the day he took me to the "computer room" in which the computer used for data processing took up the large room. He said something along the line of "One of these days, so Company XY says, this work will be done on a computer that will fit on a desk." He was really excited when that came true. Then, the day he brought home a lap top so that he could do his work for the company was such an exciting day as well. Then.....his comment:"One of these days, so they say, we'll be able to hold a computer in our hands!", was just too hard to believe. This "Good Ol' Boy" from E. TX would have been jumping for joy at each advancement, should he have lived long enough to experience them all!

[Davey Do]

"With whom"

Dr. Google says:

​"Whom should be used to refer to the object of a verb or preposition. When in doubt, try this simple trick: If you can replace the word with "he"' or "'she," use who. If you can replace it with "him" or "her," use whom."