Guys, I just want to know if this seems wrong to everyone else or if I’m being a little unfair.
I’m 11 weeks pregnant and I went to see the doctor yesterday to get a referral for Down Syndrome screening - an ultrasound and a blood test. I made an appointment to see any old doctor at the clinic because my doctor wasn’t in and I didn’t think it would matter who filled in the referral.
I told her what I needed and she turned to her computer, brought up Google and searched for “Down Syndrome Screening”. She then clicked on a link and referred to it as she filled in the referral request form.
I was… well, underwhelmed. I already thought her manners left plenty to be desired and wouldn’t go back to see her again anyway, but it was the Googling that really screamed “Unprofessional!!” at me. Is it wrong to expect your doctor to know how to order Down Syndrome screening without referring to the internet or should I chalk this one up to “They’re only human”?
I must admit I tend to use specialized medical websites for that sort of medical question, but at times I have turned to Google (though sometimes I throw in a few more parameters to separate the wheat from the chaff as it were).
But at times I’ve had to use a computer that’s not my own via guest account and my faves aren’t stored there; defaulting to Google has gotten me to where I’ve needed to go.
Looking back, I don’t know how I managed to practice medicine for that decade without decent internet access, 1983-1992 or so. It’s made me much more effective as a clinician. No more lifting heavy, outdated reference texts off the shelf…
I’m male, but I would never be concerned if a doc used Google to fill in a gap in their knowledge. Humility in a doctor is rare, and appreciated.
How long has your doc been in your area? Could be still learning the lay of the land. Also, those screenings aren’t especially common… at least not as common as you’d probably expect them to be. I doubt they refer patients to that kind of clinic very often (we had to go to a very specialized doctor for our testing, it’s not easy to read those results.)
A doc can’t know everything and so I would hope that they do research. Further, I think/hope that their background gives them enough insight to filter out the crazy.
Are you sure she was a dr? Often mid-wives or nurse practitioners will cover routine check ups for obgyn’s, and you will likely see all the dr’s/midwives during your pregnancy to familiarize you with anyone who might be on call the night you deliver. Don’t hesitate to ask questions.
If it happens again, just say something like “oh, google? did they recently change the insert whatever here?” It will at least open up the dialog as to why she’s using her powers of google-fu on what should probably be a basic knowledge procedure.
I do not see the problem; what site was she actually getting the information from?
Google is akin to using a library. There are tons of information on the internet, 100s of sites made to service medical professionals.
If she would have used a book, would that be better? If so why?
Medical science is always progressing and changing. By using the internet you have a much bigger chance of getting the latest facts.
Should MD:s always assume they are up to date, and refrain from double-checking?
please explain your position, and again do you know what site she was using?
Admittedly, if she was getting the info from some sketchy site like www.ronhubbardmedical.com you are surely right to question it. But using internet as a tool for information is surely not bad per se.
However when it comes to Downs Syndrome screening. if the MD in question was an obstetrician specialist the person should be very familiar with the routines. if shes not your red flags are probably valid.
My ex-GF was a Dr/resident. The kids coming out of med school these days (this was about 5 years ago) rely on various tools like Hippocrates (not sure if the brand spells it differently) and similar. I always found it a bit unnerving (especially when she performed tests on me and used these apps to misdiagnose me).
I’ll definitely defer to Qagdop on this subject, but I’ve always considered medicine to be akin to a mechanic by a different name (different body styles, makes, and models, as it were). For myself, I’d rather have a knowledgeable physician/specialist than a google expert.
QtM eluded to it, but it could just be that Googling is how she gets to her websites. She might just know that by Googling Down Syndrome Screening the link she’s looking for will be in near the top. It reminds me of several friends I have that will Google the URL of the page they want, then click on the link for it.
Having said that, I might bring it up at my next appointment and see what they have to say about it.
I disagree. This is a very low risk test, and a good doctor knows to memorize what is important, and not what is not. If you can get the information required in two seconds by looking it up, why trust it to your memory which can go faulty?
My wife, who is an oncologist, and a good one, if one is to judge by the number of requests by staff at the cancer center to have her be the one to look after their parents, uses Google all the time to make sure she’s up to date on fields that are not her immediate specialty. Physicians use it differently than Joe hypochondriac. It’s more of a quick lookup to make sure they remember right, aren’t forgetting an important detail, and to make sure nothing new has popped up since they last learned about this topic. For example, breat cancer treatment changed 180 degrees between when my wife graduated med school and when she finished her residency, just 6 years. A colleague who graduated along with her and wasn’t in the oncology field would already have been totally out of sync. Their large store of background knowledge lets them see and interpret the search results in a deeper way…
It’s just that they usually wait to make sure the patient doesn’t see them do it, usually…
Sounds like she doesn’t see a lot of obstetrics patients. Anyone who sees ob patients routinely would know how to write an order for Downs syndrome screening tests.
If this is a family medicine/general practice type of doc, that isn’t really a big deal. If she is supposed to be an ob/gyn, then it would be weird and alarming.
You’re probably thinking of Epocrates, an amazing app on my iPhone that I use pretty regularly (med student). Great for remembering all the different trade names and generics for the thousands of drugs that you encounter, as well as tracking interactions and adverse reactions. There’s a free version you can download too, but I don’t know what a non-health care person would do with it other than as a momentary diversion.
As for using the internet, my classmates and I always joke about how we should probably be paying some of our tuition to “doctor” Wikipedia. As others have said, the internet is a vast storehouse of information, and, in theory, our training allows us to use that to supplement our own knowledge in the proper way. Was this doctor an OB/Gyn? A Downs syndrome screen might seem like it should be routine, but doing a screening in accordance to a form is not really the same as being able to diagnose it, and it’s possible the guy just didn’t want to forget something.
Using UptoDate is one thing, but I really hope that people aren’t relying on Wiki since you never know when some jerk like myself will insert something ridiculous into the articles just to teach people not to take Wiki as gospel.
