DZone
Thanks for visiting DZone today,
Edit Profile
  • Manage Email Subscriptions
  • How to Post to DZone
  • Article Submission Guidelines
Sign Out View Profile
  • Post an Article
  • Manage My Drafts
Over 2 million developers have joined DZone.
Log In / Join
Refcards Trend Reports Events Over 2 million developers have joined DZone. Join Today! Thanks for visiting DZone today,
Edit Profile Manage Email Subscriptions Moderation Admin Console How to Post to DZone Article Submission Guidelines
View Profile
Sign Out
Refcards
Trend Reports
Events
Zones
Culture and Methodologies Agile Career Development Methodologies Team Management
Data Engineering AI/ML Big Data Data Databases IoT
Software Design and Architecture Cloud Architecture Containers Integration Microservices Performance Security
Coding Frameworks Java JavaScript Languages Tools
Testing, Deployment, and Maintenance Deployment DevOps and CI/CD Maintenance Monitoring and Observability Testing, Tools, and Frameworks
Partner Zones AWS Cloud
by AWS Developer Relations
Culture and Methodologies
Agile Career Development Methodologies Team Management
Data Engineering
AI/ML Big Data Data Databases IoT
Software Design and Architecture
Cloud Architecture Containers Integration Microservices Performance Security
Coding
Frameworks Java JavaScript Languages Tools
Testing, Deployment, and Maintenance
Deployment DevOps and CI/CD Maintenance Monitoring and Observability Testing, Tools, and Frameworks
Partner Zones
AWS Cloud
by AWS Developer Relations
Building Scalable Real-Time Apps with AstraDB and Vaadin
Register Now

Trending

  • WireMock: The Ridiculously Easy Way (For Spring Microservices)
  • Fun Is the Glue That Makes Everything Stick, Also the OCP
  • Working on an Unfamiliar Codebase
  • Integration Architecture Guiding Principles, A Reference

Trending

  • WireMock: The Ridiculously Easy Way (For Spring Microservices)
  • Fun Is the Glue That Makes Everything Stick, Also the OCP
  • Working on an Unfamiliar Codebase
  • Integration Architecture Guiding Principles, A Reference

Do doctors know what patients know?

Adi Gaskell user avatar by
Adi Gaskell
·
Jul. 25, 14 · Interview
Like (0)
Save
Tweet
Share
2.78K Views

Join the DZone community and get the full member experience.

Join For Free

For much of medical history, the physician has held all of the cards when it comes to information and knowledge.  You would go to the doctor and more often than not have little information to accompany you, and little choice but to blindly follow whatever your doctor told you.  That has largely changed in recent years, with recent studies suggesting that as many as 70% of us regularly research our condition before going to the doctors.

The problem is, most of us appear to want to keep that research a secret when we arrive at the doctors.  A Pew study for instance found that around 50% of us will choose to discuss the information we discover about our condition with our doctor, with the main reason for this being either a negative reaction from our doctor, or a perception that one would be forthcoming.

It’s rather an unhealthy situation, especially as research has shown that many doctors themselves are turning to sites such as Wikipedia for information.  Indeed, such is the popularity of the crowd based encyclopaedia that Wikiprojects Medicine was created to ensure that the highest quality information is presented on the site.

If both the doctor and the patient are accessing high quality information prior to the consultation, shouldn’t the whole affair be much more collaborative than it often appears to be?  Do doctors even attempt to understand the information people have consumed prior to the consultation?

With patients increasingly doing their own health research, it would make sense for doctors to take on a more coaching based role whereby they advise patients on the best places to go to online, and indeed warn them if their current sources are in any way unreliable.  This is a crucial role, because whilst there is no doubt an awful lot of good information online, there is also an awful lot of bad advice offered.

For instance, a recent study found that childhood obesity was a hot topic of discussion on Twitter, yet ‘official sources’ were barely included in those discussions at all.  So not only are patients getting information from a much wider range of sources, they are also having health related conversations in places where no health professionals are present.  Greater understanding of these communities would afford professionals much greater insights into where they should target their education efforts.

I wrote only recently about the roll out of an app across the NHS that will allow diabetes patients to input readings that will be sent directly to their doctors, and it seems increasingly likely that newly informed patients will be looking to take such a collaborative approach to their own care and treatment, but there will always be those who take bad advice online, and it’s crucial therefore that professionals are aware of both the good and bad elements of online health information.

Original post

Opinions expressed by DZone contributors are their own.

Trending

  • WireMock: The Ridiculously Easy Way (For Spring Microservices)
  • Fun Is the Glue That Makes Everything Stick, Also the OCP
  • Working on an Unfamiliar Codebase
  • Integration Architecture Guiding Principles, A Reference

Comments

Partner Resources

X

ABOUT US

  • About DZone
  • Send feedback
  • Careers
  • Sitemap

ADVERTISE

  • Advertise with DZone

CONTRIBUTE ON DZONE

  • Article Submission Guidelines
  • Become a Contributor
  • Visit the Writers' Zone

LEGAL

  • Terms of Service
  • Privacy Policy

CONTACT US

  • 600 Park Offices Drive
  • Suite 300
  • Durham, NC 27709
  • support@dzone.com

Let's be friends: