Should You Get Medical Information from the Internet?
Learn how to discuss medical information from the Internet without getting dirty looks from your doctor.
Rob Lamberts, MD
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Should You Get Medical Information from the Internet?
So who the heck is Dr. Rob? I am a real doctor who spends most of my day seeing real patients, I am trained in both internal medicine and pediatrics, and my name really is Dr. Rob.
And what the heck is the House Call Doc podcast? It’s your chance to get answers to your burning questions about anything to do with medicine. I’ll do my best to answer them in a way that is both understandable and entertaining.
Let me remind you that this podcast is for informational purposes only and is not intended to provide you with medical advice or recommendations for treatment. My goal is to add to your medical knowledge and translate some of the weird medical stuff you hear, so your medical care will be more fruitful. I don’t intend to replace your doctor; he or she is the one you should always consult about your own medical condition.
Getting Medical Information Online
What a perfect lead-in for today’s subject! Today I am going to address the issue of how you should handle medical information you get from the Internet (or from strange doctors on podcasts). Now that I do this podcast, this subject is very important to me. I can picture my listeners going into the doctor’s office and saying “Doctor, I listen to the House Call Doc podcast and he told me that I need to be on cholesterol medication. He told me to ask my doctor if “Cholesterol B Gone” is right for me!”
Then I can picture a mob of angry doctors with torches coming up to my office demanding that my staff let me out so they can do something terrible to me (like a colonoscopy).
I shudder at the thought. Please don’t do that.
This topic also is significant to me because I am a doctor in real life. I spend most of my working hours seeing patients, some of whom get their medical information from TV commercials, soap operas, and websites like “Colonics R Us” and Doctorsareevil.com. I’ve gotten used to it, but some people push me pretty hard. How I react to this information—even if it comes from yesterday’s episode of General Hospital—depends on how you, the patient present it to me. Right or wrong, you’ll have more success with your doctor if you present this information in a certain way.
So what’s the best way to present information like this? Here are my quick and dirty tips for approaching your unsuspecting doctor with your new-found knowledge:
Tip #1: Do It
Yes, you should bring up your concerns and questions about your care. Remember that it’s your health and you are paying for the visit. The goal is to get the best medical information, and shocking as it sounds, doctors don’t know everything. Better information means better care, no matter where the information comes from.
Tip #2: Get Your Information From a Reliable Source.
There are a lot of good sites for medical information, but there are a lot of bad ones as well. In general, sites like WebMD, MedPage, or the Mayo Clinic are good places to find answers to general medical questions. For more specific questions, go to sites of reliable organizations like the American Heart Association, The American Diabetes Association, and the American Academy of Pediatrics. I will post a list of them in the show notes at the bottom of the page.
But don’t just get your information from one source; make sure you double check it. If the information is true, it should show up in more than one place. If you can only find it on one site, then you have to question its validity. What about when two sources contradict each other? Medicine does that sometimes. It’s really annoying. Deciding what information to trust and what to discard is one of the main reasons your doctor I went to medical school. Find someone you trust to help you sort things out.
The same rules apply to this podcast. I expect you, my listeners, to double check what I say. Really. If you find that I’ve said something wrong, then I want to know. I’d rather have to correct an error than perpetuate one. It’s one thing to have an opinion about something, it’s another to get your facts right.
Tip #3: Don’t Believe Everything You Hear.
If you hear something sensational on the evening news, remember that their main goal is to sell advertising. The press may get the basic facts in a medical story right, but they often present it in a way that is misleading and even downright wrong. Most studies are done to answer very specific questions, like: do male smokers between 40 and 60 have less heart-related deaths if they take this medication? The newspaper headline reporting this study may say “Medication X reduces heart attacks,” failing to mention the details.
If you read or hear something that might be important to you, use your doctor as an outside source. Ask them about the study and if it applies to you. Chances are good that they have read the same headline.
Tip #4: Delivery is Everything.
I’ve had patients ask me things like: “Doctor, don’t you know that this drug can cause liver damage?” That sort of question kind of sounds like they are doubting my medical knowledge.
Personally, I can handle these questions from people, because I realize they usually don’t mean to offend; they are just concerned about what they have heard. I have to confess, however, that I’ve been tempted to say something sarcastic like “liver? What’s a liver?”
Some doctors get upset when openly challenged like this. Is that because they have ego problems? In some cases it is. You have to remember, though, that doctors are really just normal people who doctor for a living. They get their feelings hurt and want to be appreciated just like everyone else. You have to be tactful if you want to have a good relationship with your doctor.
A better way to put it is “I’m a little worried. I’ve read that this medication can hurt the liver. What do you think?” You get the same job done, but you are asking their advice instead of questioning their competence.
Check out episode 51 for more information about how to prepare for your doctor visits.
Tip #5: Use Paper Only as a Back-Up
When a patient walks in with a printed copy of a website, I get a little nervous. It feels like my medical knowledge is being tested and sometimes it feels like the person doesn’t trust me. If you find some information and want to get your doctor’s opinion on it, ask first without a printed sheet. If the explanation and opinion goes along with what was printed, it will build your trust in your doctor and in the source where you got the information.
If after doing this, however, you still don’t feel all your concerns were addressed, then pulling out a printed document (with tact) can help clarify what you are asking and why you are asking it.
Greeting your doctor with a pile of printed web pages, on the other hand, will put them on the defensive. It makes it seem like a challenge rather than a question, taking the focus off of your problem and on the doctor’s medical knowledge. This makes it less likely you will get the information you really need.
Again, it’s all in the delivery.
Tip #6: Get a Doctor You Trust
If your doctor doesn’t answer your questions or address your worries, it may be time to look for another doctor. Remember, it’s your body and you have to live with the consequences of anything that isn’t right.
But be careful in your judgment. If you have a bad experience, it may just be that your doc is just having a bad day. They could be sick, tired, or the patient ahead of you might have had bad breath. Perhaps they were on call and didn’t get much sleep, or maybe you caught them before the coffee kicked in. Don’t judge by a single visit.
But a doctor’s job is to send the patient out with confidence that the right plan is in place, or at least that there’s a plan to find out what that right thing is. The cornerstone of that confidence is that the patient trusts that the doctor not only knows what they are doing, but is also listening to them and addressing their concerns.
Having patients question you is a fact of life for doctors. If your doctor can’t handle reasonably asked questions without getting defensive, it may be time to question your choice of doctors. If you do need to find another doctor, I’ll go into how to find a good primary care doctor in episode 16.
That’s it for today’s podcast. I hope the information was useful to you (and I also hope that this keeps those doctors with torches off of my doorstep). If you have questions you want answered, send them to housecalldoctor@quickanddirtytips.comcreate new email.
Catch you next time! Stay healthy!
Useful Websites:
General Medical
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WebMD – www.webmd.com – easy to read and patient-oriented
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MedPage Today – www.medpagetoday.com – oriented toward medical professionals, but easy to read and concise.
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Mayo Clinic – www.mayoclinic.com – very well-written and accurate patient-oriented website.
More Specialized Sites
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American Academy of Pediatrics – www.aap.org – advice on parenting and childhood diseases.
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American Heart Association – www.americanheart.org – information on the #1 killer in America: heart disease.
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American Cancer Society – www.cancer.org – guidelines for treatment, prevention, and early detection of cancer.
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American Diabetes Association – www.diabetes.org – Diabetes information
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Center for Disease Control – www.cdc.gov – Covers mostly preventive medicine, but very large number of topics.
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National Institutes of Health – www.nih.gov – Good resource for the latest research on many conditions and problems.
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