Googling for a Diagnosis?
Medical Web Resources and Warnings |
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| Overview |
| Prepared patients: Internet information seeking by new rheumatology patients. The majority of patients research their conditions online prior to initial appointments, but are unlikely to discuss it with physicians. Physicians may want to consider strategies for enabling communication about online research. M. Cameron Hay (Wiley) Arthritis Care & Research. Vol 59, Issue 4, Pp 575 - 582. 04/27/08. (Also see: Physician/Patient Relationship ) |
| Your doctor's secret: He Googles. Doctors are increasingly tapping the Internet for health-related information, and the search engine Google can help physicians diagnose difficult medical situations, according to a new study published in the British Medical Journal. Chicago Tribune. 11/10/06. |
| Googling for a diagnosis—use of Google as a diagnostic aid: internet based study. As internet access becomes more readily available in outpatient clinics and hospital wards, the web is rapidly becoming an important clinical tool for doctors. PDF. Department of Respiratory and Sleep Medicine, Princess Alexandra Hospital, Australia. |
| Top Notch Medical Websites |
| All-Acronyms.com. Includes medical acronyms to help make sense of medical records and prescriptions. |
| Drugs.com For medication and side effect information. A commercial site but with extensive database. Drugs.com. |
| Emedicine by WebMD. |
| Hunter Area Pathology Service (HAPS) New South Wales, Australia |
| Mayo Clinic |
| MedicineNet by WebMD. |
| Medline Plus by National Library of Medicine (NLM) and National Institutes of Health (NIH). |
| Merck Medical news, research and general information. |
| National Institutes of Health (NIH) |
| PubMed by National Library of Medicine (NLM) and National Institutes of Health (NIH). |
| WebMD by WebMD. |
| Wrong Diagnosis.com |
| Beware of Internet Health Fraud |
| The Internet is chock-full of misleading, misguided and mistaken information on the one hand, and trustworthy, cutting-edge science on the other. How can we decide who and what to believe? These sites offer some practical guidance. |
| Study of web-based peer discussion: the domain of scleroderma. Users of such information in this area report their trust in and reliance on peer discussion for medical decision-making, at times to the point where interaction becomes a form of `cybertherapy'. Lorence, D. and Saylor, K. (2008), Int. J. Healthcare Technology and Management, Vol. 9, No. 3, pp.275±302. |
| "Operation Phoney Philanthropy" Launched to Fight Charity Fraud Scam artists, beware! A law enforcement and public education campaign has been launched by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). Thirty-four states, the Better Business Bureau's Wise Giving Alliance, and GuideStar have all been enlisted in the effort to stop fraudulent fund-raising and help donors avoid phony charities. GuideStar 07/01/03. |
| Bogus health scares on Internet become increasingly common. "Have you heard about the cancer-causing shampoo? Or the epidemic of multiple sclerosis and lupus caused by artificial sweetener? Or the kidney thieves who remove organs from people who get drunk at parties?" CNN. |
| FDA announces new efforts to help curb illegal prescription drug marketing on the Internet FDA. |
| How to Spot a "Quacky" Web Site The best way to avoid being quacked is to reject quackery's promoters. Each item listed below signifies that a web site is not a trustworthy information source. QuackWatch. |
| Twenty-Five Ways to Spot Quacks and Vitamin Pushers How can food quacks and other vitamin pushers be recognized? Here are 25 signs that should arouse suspicion. QuackWatch. |
| Faking Illness and Munchausen's by Internet |
| Sympathy-Seekers Invade Internet Support Groups Marc D. Feldman, MD, of the University of Alabama at Birmingham's Center for Psychiatric Medicine, calls it "Munchausen by Internet". In these disorders, people cook up or induce fictitious illnesses in themselves or others in an effort to gain sympathy. HealthyPlace.com. (Also see: Internet Fraud) |
| Munchausen's Syndrome. Factitious illnesses are unique difficulties for physicians. Patients who present with overt demonstrable symptoms but prove to have a factitious disease, such as Munchausen syndrome, are particularly challenging and fascinating. The syndrome is named for Baron von Munchausen (1720-1797), a man who traveled widely and was known for his dramatic but untruthful stories. Typically, patients with Munchausen syndrome are male. eMedicine. |
| Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy (MSBP). This term is applied when an adult, usually the mother, presents a false history to the physician regarding a child who is not suffering from any of the fabricated symptoms. This history causes the physician to perform unnecessary diagnostic procedures that do not result in any specific diagnosis. MSBP has been called Polle syndrome, named after Baron von Munchausen's only child, who died when aged 1 year. eMedicine. |
| Doctors Online |
| Doctors Online Get your questions answered by a doctor! Dozens of online doctors listed. |
| Internet application for medical purposes in chronic patients cared for in a Systemic Autoimmune Diseases unit. Many patients use Internet for medical purposes in our environment and even more consider using it in the future. It is important to be aware of this fact and facilitate information about quality web pages for interested patients. PubMed. Rev Clin Esp. 2005 Jun;205(6):255-8. |
| Prescription Fraud |
| Trafficking on rise in prescription drugs. Last year the FDA identified "diversion" and "illegal redirection" of prescription drugs as a major problem because there is no easy way to distinguish legitimate drugs from ones that have been illegally sold into a so-called gray market in which unauthorized dealers peddle pills. These gray market drugs can end up on pharmacy shelves, which means consumers could be buying medicines that have been improperly stored, adulterated, or distributed after their expiration dates. boston.com 04/02/04. |
| Mick Breske |
| Mick's Medical Sites to Search See World of Scleroderma Links Lupus Links Autoimmune Links Pharmacy Search Laboratory Tests Medical Sites to Search or ask her to help you — she's an ace web researcher and has tracked down many links for the ISN web site. |
| Scleroderma Sites to Surf! |
| For worldwide listings of Scleroderma websites see Scleroderma Sites to Surf! by the Scleroderma Webmaster's Association. |
