Trustworthy and reliable? Why we need an alternative to Dr. Google
Whether it’s a cramp in the stomach, a pull in the back or a buzzing in the head, more and more people are seeking advice from Dr. Google. The world’s most popular search engine already receives more than 1 billion search queries on health-related topics every single day, making it the number one point of contact when it comes to medical questions. But anyone who has ever consulted Dr. Google before knows how difficult it is to find trustworthy information and how easy it is to go down the rabbit hole and be misguided.
Online search instead of seeing a doctor?
Going straight to the family doctor when you have pain or feel sick? That belongs to the past. A survey conducted by the German digital association Bitkom showed that one in two already researches the symptoms online before going to the doctor. Women do this considerably more often (61%) than their male counterparts (45%). The practical thing about Dr. Google and other online health guides: they can provide instant feedback and are available 24/7. Moreover, no health issue is too uncomfortable or intimate to look it up, as one can remain anonymous on the internet. But as tempting as it is to Google symptoms, the results in most cases are unreliable.
A recent Australia study shows that Dr. Google and most symptom checkers on the market are often wrong in assessing conditions. The Edith Cowan University (ECU) in Perth took a closer look at 36 symptom checkers and online health information around the world. The results showed that only about one-third of the people who consult Google for their symptoms and medical advice actually receive the correct information. In only 36% of the cases did the online search return the correctly diagnosed condition as the first result. In 52% of the cases, the correct diagnosis was among the first three search results.
From hypochondriac to cyberchondriac
Due to the excess of health information and providers online, it is quite easy to get lost. A survey by Bertelsmann Stiftung looking at the importance of the internet as a source of advice on health-related issues shows that as many as 65% of respondents have difficulty identifying trustworthy sources on the internet. According to the ECU study, online health guides or symptom checkers lack quality controls, regulations, and data security. These are all factors that can make patients feel even more unsettled.
With all the uncertainty, there is the risk that patients will continue to search for explanations and get lost deeper and deeper in the torrent of digital diagnoses. The number of hypochondriacs has increased sharply worldwide with digitalization. Cyberchondria is the hypochondria of today. Those affected spend hours on the internet searching for illnesses and often receive downright horror diagnoses. A headache becomes a brain tumor; a harmless rash becomes skin cancer – the unfiltered results of possible diagnoses from unreliable sources can result in wrong health decisions and consequently strain the healthcare system.
No substitute but a useful complement
The search for symptoms on the internet should be treated with caution, as it usually lacks a holistic view of the person and their individual situation. The Australian study also states that most websites and apps do not know the patient’s medical history holistically. However, it is precisely this background knowledge that is needed to provide better assessments and recommendations.
The results of the studies nevertheless show a clear trend: if implemented properly, digital solutions such as medically certified symptom checkers can successfully support modern healthcare systems. They are not intended to replace doctors but to complement them in a meaningful way, for example, as a second opinion on a medical diagnosis. According to another survey conducted by Bitkom, almost every third person (31%) does not understand the doctor’s explanations. This is why 61% of patients seek a second opinion after a doctor’s visit and mostly choose Dr. Google to do so. If doctors can recommend helpful sources of information for further research, this is an added value for everyone, as a Bertelsmann study from 2018 showed. The credo is: to create healthy synergies between healthcare providers online and offline.
Become the first digital point of contact and trusted advisor of your customers
This is exactly the kind of synergy that XUND is about: It is the meaningful collaboration of human and artificial intelligence that allows us to ensure that medical information is put into the right context. In doing so, we can provide a trustworthy alternative to Dr. Google, reducing uncertainty and encouraging patients to make informed health decisions. By integrating our Medical API, you can leverage our technology for your own use case to help your customers identify their diseases early on and direct them to the right point of care immediately.
As a certified medical device, we not only meet all the regulatory requirements but also guarantee users the appropriate safety of use: every piece of information we use for our medical decision-making algorithms is based on scientific literature and undergoes medical quality control.
Want to learn more about our technology? Find out more about how to digitize your patient journey and transform unstructured data collected from patients into actionable insights here.