Googling for a diagnosis? The results are not too bad if you believe in a new BMJ report. The authors measured the percentage of correct diagnoses from Google searches compared with the correct diagnoses of 26 cases published in the New England Journal of Medicine. Google searches revealed the correct diagnosis in 15 (58%) cases.
The results are not so unexpected if you are asking the right question (as always in life). Making, however, in 42% of your patients a wrong diagnosis, is certainly not acceptable. As one of the rapid responses say:
This is research? I am amazed by the publication of this article. As a regular reviewer for numerous journals, this article would never have seen the light of day. The article does not offer any insight into an important topic… I am shocked that this has been published by the BMJ.
I can not be shocked, yea, yea.
Addendum
1-6-07 more and more of these sites are now popping up like medgle.com:
