Google is primary health resource for 1 in 8
Google, the internet search engine, is the first port of call for 12 per cent of people looking for information on illness, a survey of 1,000 consumers has found. Medical practitioners, the first port of call for
52 per cent of consumers, are the only source of information more popular
than Google.
A third of consumers (35 per cent) say they self-diagnose and tell a
medical practitioner which conditions they believe they have before their
consultation and a fifth (22 per cent) already have a treatment in mind
before consulting a medical practitioner.
Commenting on the findings, Colette McCreedy, director of pharmacy practice
at the National Pharmaceutical Association, said: “Health care
professionals all have to accept that the internet will become an increasingly
important source of information and be aware of the risk that a patient
will misdiagnose. As a result, we will become interpreters as well as
providers of information about medicines and illness and we also need
to ensure that patients use the internet in addition to, rather than
as a replacement for, information from health care professionals.”
“
The lack of accreditation for internet sites is a problem as patients
cannot tell which sites are authoritative and which are unreliable,” she
added. “Pharmacists can help
patients by directing them to reliable sources of information, such as
NHS Direct.” |
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