Google :: Doctors get Google’s help in diagnosis of difficult cases

Doctors in doubt about a patient’s ailment could use Google to help them reach a diagnosis, researchers said today. A new Australian study recommends doctors use Google to help diagnose difficult cases, despite indications it’s only 60 per cent accurate. Specialists at Princess Alexandra Hospital in Brisbane studied how effective the world’s largest and most popular search engine is for helping diagnose rare diseases.

The work, published online by the British Medical Journal, recommends specialists use Google because it is now a source of three billion journal articles, more than any specialist search engine.

Several recent studies have shown the public often use the internet to self-diagnose, a trend that has alarmed many in the medical fraternity because of online inaccuracies.