There is a lot of health information on the Internet, some of which is very unreliable. The Internet does not give direct answers. Instead, it directs the user to websites with indexed information on the same topic, using specific keywords used by the user in the search command. Unfortunately, every health case is unique, and the opinion of a trained and experienced physician is always essential. This paper explores the use of health information on the internet by patients in making their own medical decisions.
If a patient researches a symptom, he or she can get a surprising self-diagnosis, which could be of a fatal condition. Such discovery can be distressing and can lead the person to do self-hard to save him or herself from further suffering (Levin-Zamir, & Bertschi, 2018). However, the patient cannot rely on this information to make reliable medical determinations for him or herself. Internet users should understand that disease diagnosis entails more than just symptom examination. While there is no one else who can be held accountable for such an occurrence, web publishers must ensure that the information they give is reliable and contains disclaimer messages on its usability. Additionally, even if one has all the information needed to make a medical diagnosis, a lot of competence, experience and disease insight is necessary to make the decision.
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If I were running a healthcare facility and a patient complained of getting a different treatment from what they googled, I would use the submissive approach to address the issue. I would request the patient to peruse the information he or she used and I would present the patient’s healthcare history, case characteristics, and any other available information. Comparing both sets of information together with the patient would demonstrate why a different path from the one presented on the Internet was chosen (Maloney et al., 2015). By doing so, I would successfully discredit the patient’s reliance on internet-sourced information. However, I would not judge the patient for using the information. Rather, I would guide him or her on how important medical decisions are made.
Conclusively even though there is a lot of health information on the internet, people without a medical background should not rely on it to make medical decisions. This is because even if the information is from a reliable source, not everyone can rely on it to make important medical decisions.
References
Levin-Zamir, D., & Bertschi, I. (2018). Media health literacy, eHealth literacy, and the social environment's role in context. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health . 15 (8), 1643.
Maloney, S., Ilic, D., & Green, S. (2015). Accessibility, nature, and quality of health information on the Internet: a survey on osteoarthritis. Rheumatology , 44 (3), 382-385.
