Six long, strenuous months have passed since the last doctor’s appointment and the pain increases rapidly. Busy schedules prevent many individuals from scheduling a second appointment, and when this occurs people seek comfort through the internet. Medical websites provide copious amounts of information on diseases, symptoms, and alternative methods of treatment but they are not a cure for diagnosis. These websites produce harmful effects on the mental health of patients, and they should resist the urge to google a treatment plan before the doctor diagnoses one. The equipment and resources available at clinics and hospitals provide more accuracy than the internet ever will. Lennox Hospital director Arun Swaminath directly approaches the argument by performing a study to see where patients gather information. They discovered “over 90 percent of patients searched the internet for …show more content…
Martin Weiser, Stuart H.Q. Chair at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, believes the advice provided “helps frame the cancer treatment discussion, set expectations, inform patients about complex therapies and support their participation in a difficult decision-making process” (Weiser). His job ensures each individual gains full awareness of their symptoms and which treatment plan is best, whether they get all the information from a physician or only some. The feeling is mutual with Lisa Hanchey, author of “WebMD: good or bad medicine?’ She focuses her article around the opinions of doctors. For example, Dr. Gautum explicitly states “an informed patient is one who is going to help me take care of them” (Hanchey). The doctors mentioned in her article all agree, a patient calling with questions of concern will benefit them rather than cause anxiety. Weiser and Hanchey reach a common ground because the results provided online are resourceful, but a doctor’s visit should occur shortly
I will compare the information available from two major online medical resources to see what type of audience they are targeting and how the information is communicated. The topic that I will be chosen is diabetes. The websites that I will be getting my sources are from Medicinenet (http://www.medicinenet.com/diabetes_mellitus/article.htm) and the CDC centers for disease control and prevention (http://www.cdc.gov/diabetes/home/index.html).
The growth of health care activities since then has truly encouraged patients to reach for information outside the confines of patient and physician interaction. Revolutionary new technology such as cell phones and computers, as well as the development of the Internet and social media sites, has served as where a vast majority of the public finds current knowledge for their problems.
Caveat lector is a Latin phrase meaning, “let the reader beware.” Health information on the internet is growing at an alarming rate. However, some information on the internet is not accurate or current, and unfortunately, many web sites regarding healthcare offer misleading, incomplete, and incorrect information. Many consumers do not have the knowledge to judge and evaluate the quality of online information. This paper aims to discuss how the website WebMD presents information to readers. It will evaluate WebMD according to its source, where was the source obtained; type of funding, is it commercially funded or private; the validity and quality, how valid is the information and can it be verified; and privacy, is your personal information
Upgrading our documentation to information and informatics comes with many advantages for the health care team to improve quality and safe ty improvement. Also, the use of technology such as telehealth, telenursing and videoconferencing are on the rise, and will be embedded into our communities and nursing organizations so that we can reach people around the country who do not have accessibility quality health care. Using technology to educate patients and families about credible websites, and how to search for pertinent information that is relevant to his or her health is a priority. The goal is to eliminate unnecessary emergency rooms visits. These actions foster communication and minimize anxiety
Education of patients and families regarding the reliability of internet information is prudent. Given the enormous amount of information available via the World Wide Web, not all of which, as you illustrate, is reliable, it is of great importance that patients and families comprehend the unreliability of some of the information they may acquire. Patients who are unable to gain access to health care secondary to a lack of funds, insurance, or availability of their provider, may be inclined to review their symptoms utilizing a search engine. Moreover, patients who were incapable of accessing healthcare due to reasons other than a lack of insurance are more likely to utilize the internet to obtain health related
In the present, it is harder for doctors to leave patience uninformed with the help of Google or Web MD. Today internet has been an almost unlimited source of information at our fingertips. Sometimes people would get themselves paranoid by creating a self-diagnosis by using web MD. When a patient would go to hospitals, they ask more question and challenge doctors competence of what or why they might be diagnosed.
Your experiences with using online resources to look up health or medical issues. Do you know of any situation where someone has found information on the Internet that has not matched the advice given by their doctor? What do you think of the use of the Internet by non-medical professionals to seek advice and information about illnesses and other health issues? How much do you think the medical and health professionals where you are need to, and have, kept pace with developments on the Internet?
As stated by Dr. Debra Patt from Texas Oncology “the educational content enhancements to My Care Plus will allow me to provide patient education more easily and help me to improve patient’s health literacy” (McKesson 2016). One unique feature to McKesson products, in particular to their oncology product, is that it provides patients with a unique outline of their diagnosis (McKesson 2016). This includes more information about their disease, medical reports, and what to expect throughout their treatment plan (McKesson 2016). It is evident that McKesson products are currently utilized to their fullest extent and among these resources is patient education. The establishment for a central location for patient data enables patient education to continue both inside the health care facility, as well as, at home. McKesson products recognize the need for health education and also recognize that education does not end at the physician office but is also
The e-medial initiative is a new project introduced into the medial field in order to improve the management of medial products. The initiative is bound to cause a great revolution in the use and management of medicine related products. Over the recent past, there have been a lot of problems in the management of medial products, especially medicine. What with the cases of misuse and illegal trade and prescriptions of drugs. This has caused great challenges and with this product, all those problems will be laid to rest. Though the project introduces an aspect of
In contrast, Cancer.gov is labeled directly for medical health professionals and gives the option to switch to the patient version. The medical health professions would include: nurses, doctors, and medical assistants, for example. However, the patient version still employs precise terminology and information that is not generally given in shortened doctor-to-patient edification. Overall, this website is more challenging to circumnavigate, due to the professional terminology and numerous optional features. However, cancer.gov provides more detailed and descriptive information. Different options and/or links provided copious subtopics on Breast Cancer such as: treatments, causes/preventions, genetics screening statistics, supportive/palliative care, breast reconstruction options, and research. Consequently, non-medical professionals and/or general public with at least a high school degree would find this website problematic. This due to technical language used in Cancer.gov such as “Clinical trials have established that screening asymptomatic women using mammography, with or without clinical breast examination, decreases breast cancer mortality” and “Pathologically, breast cancer can be a multicentric and bilateral disease” (“Breast Cancer – Treatment - Health Professional Version”, 2017, para.
As a new graduate student, one of the many observations I made during the first week of clinical was how busy my preceptor was and the amount of patients she was scheduled to see. My preceptor is always on the go and any little hiccup can result in her getting behind. With that being said, it is inevitable patients will present with complex symptoms that may involve utilizing additional resources to diagnose and manage symptoms appropriately. When situations like this occur, my preceptor uses The 5-Minute Consult Clinical Companion to Women’s Health. According to McGarry and Tong (2013), “The material present practical, up-to-date, evidence-based information in a format designed for rapid consultation.” This resource is helpful to my preceptor
Health and medicine are important for a society to run smoothly. The internet can be very dangerous. First of all, one does not know who is putting this information on the internet and many illnesses have similar symptoms but need different treatments. It is not always easy to decide what is reliable. 80% of internet users go online to find health related information. Many people rely and trust the internet which makes them sicker. When one is unhealthy, it leads to them not being able to perform their role in society and become exempt from normal obligations. Doctors play a vital role in keeping people healthy and productive in our society. People tend to believe what they read on the internet. But as we have learned
Self-medication is being practiced all globally, and more often in underserved communities. It is no secret that people in underserved communities resort to online self-diagnosis and self-medication for treatment because they do not have the necessary resources to pay for a check up. However, most do not realize that a wrong self-diagnosis can potentially result in an escalation of the problem. However,which could ultimately result in costing them more. In the article, The Hazards of Self-Diagnosis on the Internet, Bianca Seidman states that “the accuracy of the self-diagnosis is unreliable leading to more worry about potential conditions and it can also result in spending more money trying to self-treat”(Seidman, 2015). This evidence proves people do not understand how
More so, the usage of the Internet and other global media has expanded the ability of patients to have access to an enormous amount of information about diseased previously thought “too technical” requiring government policy that sought to limit the control and influence of physicians.
Cancer telephone helplines have been in existence for nearly four decades and continue to gradually grow in popularity. Trained specialists are available 24 hours a day to answer any questions, provide information, and offer callers emotional support in order to help them cope with what they may be experiencing. These helplines are not only for cancer patients, but also for their caregivers, friends, family, or anyone with a general interest in learning about or discussing cancer with a specialist. The purpose of this literature review is to ascertain the types of information that has been examined in studies of cancer information telephone helplines. With the number of people affected by cancer steadily increasing, it is important that