20 Aug 2018

Google's medical advice gets tick of approval

From Morning Report, 6:42 am on 20 August 2018

A new study says people who Google their symptoms before turning up to hospital, have better conversations with their doctor than those who don't do prior research. Four-hundred patients who presented at Melbourne emergency departments were surveyed about their health search history. The results of the survey, published in the Medical Journal of Australia, show three-quarters of those who search online found it to be beneficial. One of the doctors involved in the study, Jennie Hutton, told RNZ reporter Emma Hatton doctors need to be more open to discussing a patient's research with them.