Doctors find Google great tool for diagnosing illnesses and cases

Dial G for Google the Doctor.

Doctors worldwide can leave a sign of relief, as Google would now soon be able help Doctors with their diagnoses.

Two Australian doctors experimented with Google by entering the symptoms of a tricky case into the Internet search engine. They soon found out that the search results were loaded with accurate information about diagnosing the illness. They put Google to test again. This time around they entered 26 difficult cases recorded in the New England Journal of 

Medicine into the search engine. It turned out that Google came with correct diagnosis search results for 58% of all the cases. A concerned Patients Association quoted that it was indeed a worry, if doctors start to use Google to diagnose people because many contained dubious information. 

Two Australian doctors at the Princess Alexandra Hospital in Brisbane, Australia named Hangwi Tang and Jennifer Hwee Kwoon Ng entered three to five words from the case records into Google. From the search results, they selected 30 most likely diagnoses for the cases. They clarified that the this would not be possible for patients, as they may not be capable of accurately describing their symptoms or evaluating which search results were most reliable. They further added, "In difficult diagnostic cases, it is often useful. Web-based search engines such as Google are becoming the latest tools in clinical medicine, and doctors in training need to become proficient in their use." 

The British medical Journal, which was the first one to publish this story, suggests that Google might provide the diagnosis in conditions with unique symptoms, but it would be effective at identifying complex diseases with non-specific symptoms or rare diseases with common symptoms. Meanwhile, the doctors and patients association are not impressed with the idea of searching for a diagnosis on the Internet. Chairperson of the Royal College of General Practitioners said "The internet is in no way a replacement for doctors. Their clinical judgment and expertise will always be necessary to make sense of the information." Dr. Rodney Burhman put it across quiet rightly, saying that the doctors would need to cross-check with patients whether they have indeed provided them with the correct symptoms, before searching out on the Internet. He also cautioned the doctors to check the authenticity of the website offering these diagnosis. 

Among the conditions correctly diagnosed by Google included the auto-immune disease Churg-Strauss syndrome, a rare condition that can affect the blood vessels, the lungs, nerves, and other parts of the body, Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, the hormonal disorder Cushing's syndrome, acute chest syndrome - a complication of sickle cell disease. 

Dial G for Google the Doctor.

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