January 26, 2010 | Interesting Web Sites

This is a guest post by Jay Bucher of www.whatsgoodblog.com.

There are a lot of different websites out there for patients to get medical information that once was only accessible by doctors and other healthcare providers. This has led to a plethora of information disseminated throughout the internet right into the hands of patients themselves. How do you know which sites to trust? How do you know which sites are accurate? I am going to do a quick overview of which, in my opinion, are the best and worst sites. Just keep in mind that I am only a medical student and not a doctor; therefore, anything I say has to be confirmed with your physician as I am not qualified to give actual medical advice. Now that that is out of the way, lets begin.

WebMD

One of the most popular websites is WebMD.com . WebMD.com has been around probably the longest of all of the websites. One of its best features is the symptom checker – where you can click an area of the body and input what symptoms you have. Its great because it has a very easy to use, intuitive interface. You literally just click the body part that is having the symptom and then click what you feel like pain, It will give you a list of questions and then output a bunch of possible conditions. After clicking on one of the conditions, it loads an explanation of the condition, what causes it, what are its symptoms, how its diagnosed and some treatment options for it including prescription and over the counter medicines and home remedies (like taking a humid shower, drinking fluids, etc…). Its easy to use, has a lot of information for patients and uses very easy language so there are no confusing medical terms.

The biggest disadvantage of WebMD.com is that when you put in something simple, like a cough (I have one right now), it comes back with a lot of unnecessarily alarming potential conditions. For example, I have a simple cough from a bronchitis. Some of the potential causes that WebMD gives me are – an aortic aneurysm (a tear of the aorta – the main blood vessel of the body – a very fatal condition), COPD (a number of lung diseases that are chronic), pneumonia, asbestosis (after being exposed to asbestos), bronchial adenoma (a tumor) and cryptococcus (a relatively uncommon fungal infection that can spread throughout the body). Any layperson can access this information from the web anywhere and have access to all of these alarming potential conditions. This is unnecessary and just causes increased anxiety.

Mayo Clinic

Another popular website is the Mayo Clinic at www.mayoclinic.com . You can search for diseases, symptoms, drugs, treatments and several other topics. Mayo Clinic is one of the premiere medical institutions in the country. It recommends when you should go see a doctor, provides a list of causes just like WebMD (though even more extensive), recommends therapies that you can take while at home, provides a summary of current information about certain treatments from studies and so much more information. I like Mayo Clinic because they are seen as a group of experts throughout the country and their website is very well-maintained with up to date information about conditions and treatments.

One thing I do not like about the website is that there is a LOT of information. You can easily be overwhelmed just reading all of it. Each disease has several pages about symptoms, treatments, causes, when to see a doctor, remedies, risk factors, etc… There is a lot of information there to absorb, especially if you are in a rush or flustered because you are sick. You really need to read through to find the important details. It also causes unnecessary alarm.

UpToDate

The last website I will talk about is www.uptodate.com . I am not extremely well-versed in the patient side of uptodate.com as I use its healthcare provider website for school. However, I can tell you that the healthcare provider website is one of the best websites that you can use to find evidence based medicine and expert testimony on virtually any topic in medicine. The patient side is very well organized and provides information on screening, treatment and diseases. You search for something like “cough” and a lot of topics pop up – chronic cough, bronchitis, patient information about various conditions associated with a cough.

The worst part about uptodate.com is the interface. Its really not user intuitive at all and the search feature is not great because I searched for cough and came up with over 20 different things. Some of their language is a little technical and more geared towards people with a medical background.

Most doctors that I have spoken to think that overall these sites are okay but they cannot be substituted for a real physician. If you think you are sick or do not feel well, you have to go see a doctor. A website really cannot diagnose or help you. Even if its just a common cold, you should probably visit a doctors office just to make sure. Sometimes, those alarming conditions are not that uncommon and you may be suffering from one of them. That is why its always imperative to visit a physician if you are not feeling well.

Overall, these are three great sites. Of course, you should try out all three before you decide which one you want to use because each has a different layout, different pros and different cons. In the end, using all three will get you the most comprehensive information. What do you think? Have you used these websites before?

Resources

WebMD.com
www.mayoclinic.com
www.uptodate.com

About the Author

The What’s Good Blog is your one stop site for up to date reviews of technology, sporting events, TV shows, movies, electronics, cell phones and more. Written by a medical student, law student and engineering school graduate, they review everything that is important to young adult professionals.

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