The Irish College of General Practitioners discusses issues that affect both patients and GPs every day in clinics throughout the land.
The internet is an excellent resource to educate patients and doctors alike so long as they take a few simple precautions.
Self diagnosis is a hit and miss affair a lot of the time and patients often present to their GP with unnecessary anxiety arising out of browsing session on the internet. Firstly, the diagnosis may be wrong and not as serious as that arrived at by the patient. Secondly, patients can’t stop themselves reading the gory details, like mortality risks. These percentages are read closely by medical students so as not to forget an important fact they might get asked in an exam. Patients read them closely for entirely different reasons. Often, this end stage of a disease is an absolute rarity but the patient still feels frightened.
Google
GPs use the internet all the time now. They get images from Google to reinforce a diagnosis of a skin complaint; they download patient information leaflets and use risk scores to calculate risk of a heart attack etc. They may recommend websites after the diagnosis is made. The internet is an excellent tool in educating patients about their health and about specific illnesses.
Smart Surfing
Use it wisely and it will serve you well. Check out some of these sites: hpsc.ie; healthpromotion.ie; patient.co.uk (UK website) familydoctor.org (American website – please note that medications and/or doses may differ to those used in Ireland)
Dr Mel Bates is a Dublin-based GP, in practice for the past 25 years. He is also Chair of the ICGP Communications Committee.
