The Internet’s power to make something “go viral”
has surpassed the phrase’s original meaning.
Sneeze once, you might pass a virus to the person next to
you. Post something online, the entire world might get infected.
Take the H1N1 vaccine: Late last month, the search term
“H1N1 vaccine dangers” hit Google’s top 10 searches.
A video of a cheerleader supposedly crippled after getting
the flu vaccine received almost a million hits.
It’s driving doctors crazy, as they insist the vaccine is
safe and anti-vaccine preachers are plain wrong.
But the H1N1 story is evidence of a broader trend: The
public’s appetite for Internet health information has fundamentally altered the
doctor-patient relationship.
Doctors are no longer perceived as the only authority on
health information.
“People don’t have that kind of patriarchal
relationship with their physicians anymore,” said Dr. Maxine
Barish-Wreden, who heads Sutter’s integrative medicine team. “They come
in, and they’re armed with some data already.”
Almost all U.S. physicians said in a survey that at least
some patients bring to appointments health information they found online,
according to the Manhattan Research Group, a company that researches health
care trends.
Sometimes it means those precious few minutes with the doctor
can be spent setting the patient on the right track.
“There’s such a fine line between somebody who’s
well-informed and somebody who’s misinformed,” said Diane Chan, a
pediatrician at Kaiser’s Roseville, Calif., Medical Center. “Because then
I have two jobs: One, to convince you you don’t have a disease that you think
you do, and then to diagnose you with the right thing.”
Sixty-one percent of Americans look online for health
information, the majority of whom say their last search had an impact on medical
decisions, according to a 2009 survey from Washington, D.C.-based Pew Research
Center. The research group dubbed them “e-patients.”
Evelyn Meletlidis of Roseville said she looks up health
information online every day because she has an autistic 4-year-old. She
belongs to Internet groups for parents of kids with autism. Members trade tips
on everything from diets to vaccinations.
Her choice not to continue vaccinating her son was a
decision made after extensive research online and offline, she said, and one
not welcomed by doctors.
“I’ve been literally kicked out of offices because I
won’t vaccinate my child,” she said.
Despite all the online information, Pew researchers also
found the Internet hasn’t replaced doctors.
“People turn first to their doctor, then to Dr. Mom,
and third to Dr. Google,” said Suzanne Fox, one of the Pew study authors.
Roughly two-thirds of doctors think online health research
is a good thing, according to the Manhattan Research Group.
When harnessed in the correct way, doctors say, the Internet
makes the patient a partner, not a passive bystander. If a patient already has
researched a specific condition, it means a physician can bypass the basics and
get right down to real questions.
“I’ve heard anecdotally that specialists who care for
people with chronic diseases are more welcoming of e-patients,” Fox said.
“This patient is hitting the ground running and therefore the doctor can
jump to the next level.”
Some providers have tapped into this thirst for knowledge
with their own online information channels. Patients at Kaiser Permanente can
log onto an interactive Web site and find information and videos on topics such
as how to prepare for a major surgery.
Other doctors said the Internet is a good tool for engaging
patients.
Dr. Kristopher Kordana said e-mail has made his internal
medicine practice more patient-centered, as counter-intuitive as that sounds.
Kordana, who works at Kaiser South Sacramento Medical
Center, said many patients are elderly or have persistent conditions. In the
past, when they wanted professional advice, they would have to call the advice
nurse. The message would have to be delivered to Kordana, and he would call
back. Inevitably, there was a lot of phone tag.
Now the patient can just e-mail him directly, Kordana said.
If he’s at his computer, he can respond in under a minute.
If the matter is not urgent, he’ll ask a patient to come in.
But many health issues don’t need an appointment, such as sending out a quick
medical reminder.
“It’s really freed up my time so I actually have more
face-to-face with patients,” Kordana said. “And when I do see
patients, our visit is much more efficient.”
One of his patients is Helen Gallagher, whose daughter JoAnn
Young trades e-mails with Kordana. Gallagher is 94 years old and doesn’t
e-mail, but she knows how to contact Kordana, Young said.
“My mother always says to us, ‘Did you e-mail the
doctor and tell him?'” Young said.
Via McClatchy-Tribune News Service.
