> researchers found that searching symptoms online modestly boosted patients’ ability to accurately diagnose health issues without increasing their anxiety or misleading them to seek care inappropriately [...] the results of this survey study challenge the common belief among clinicians and policy-makers that using the Internet to search for health information is harmful. [0]
For example, "man Googles rash, discovers he has one-in-a-million rare disease" [1].
> Ian Stedman says medical professionals shouldn't dismiss patients who go looking for answers outside the doctor's office - even if they resort to 'Dr. Google.'
> "Whenever I hear a doctor or nurse complain about someone coming in trying to diagnose themselves, it boils my blood. Because I think, I don't know if I'd be dead if I didn't diagnose myself. You can't expect one person to know it all, so I think you have to empower the patient."
If there's a reasonable audit trail for the doctor to verify that valid differential reasoning was done that they can quickly verify, there's relatively few downsides and lots of upsides for them.
For example, "man Googles rash, discovers he has one-in-a-million rare disease" [1].
> Ian Stedman says medical professionals shouldn't dismiss patients who go looking for answers outside the doctor's office - even if they resort to 'Dr. Google.'
> "Whenever I hear a doctor or nurse complain about someone coming in trying to diagnose themselves, it boils my blood. Because I think, I don't know if I'd be dead if I didn't diagnose myself. You can't expect one person to know it all, so I think you have to empower the patient."
[0] https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8084564/
[1] https://www.cbc.ca/radio/whitecoat/man-googles-rash-discover...