Google Is Not Going To Replace Your Doctor- Yet | Celine Gounder

The search giant has introduced symptom checkers onto its site this week. Here is one physicians verdict

This week Google unveiled its new symptom cards, which will pop to the top of your search results the next time “youre just trying to” search for your various ailments. Currently only on the Apple or Android Google apps, this feature will eventually be available through web browser searches too. Google developed its symptom cards with the help of doctors at Harvard medical school and the Mayo Clinic.

Other symptom checkers, perhaps driven by medico-legal concerns, feed the fears of hypochondriac. Theres no vetting process. They list scary and rare diagnoses alongside the most probable. The advice they dedicate is conservative, recommending most patients try care even when a little TLC at home would have done the trick. Theyre also not very accurate. A analyse of 23 symptom checkers saw they came up with the right diagnosis first only a third of the time.

Much to my relief, the Google symptom checker focuses on whats most common. So maybe now Ill have fewer patients asking for unnecessary scans or to be tested for heavy metal poisoning or food allergies or Lyme disease. A search for runny snout and cough ranks the common cold at the top. Googles symptom card recommends taking over-the-counter redress , not antibiotics.

Every medical student is taught when you hear hoof beats, think of horses not zebras in other words, dont favor an exotic explanation over a more likely one. Still, every once in a while, its a zebra.

Sometimes its a seemingly trivial or unrelated detail that helps us uncover the diagnosis. But patients and doctors dont rank symptoms or describe them the same way. Patients underscore whats most painful or bothersome. We focus on what constructs for a good clue and we look for red flags.

You might have disabling low back pain. Googles symptom card tells us you likely have a stres or sprain and can be treated with physical therapy and pain relievers. Thats great advice for most people, but maybe you also have a fever or recently became incontinent of urine. You might not realize these symptoms could be related and point to something more serious like cancer or an infection in your spine. You might tell me you have chest pain, but having chest pain when youre doing yard run entails something different to me than having chest pain when you take a deep breath.

Doctors pattern recognition is based on more than a symptom or two. But enter three or more symptoms such as constipation, blood in stool and weight loss, which would be concerning for colon cancer and Googles symptom checker stutters.

We also think in terms of demographics( eg age, sexuality, race and ethnicity ), socioeconomics and geography. We want to know if you smoke or drink or use drugs, if youve traveled and where, and if youve been around anyone sick or have a new sexual partner. One medical condition could put you at risk for another, and some medical conditions run together.

Lets say you have a fever. Google tells us you might have the influenza. But if you just came back from a backpacking trip around southeast Asia, you could have malaria or dengue. If you also have swollen glands, Google says you could have mono, the influenza, a common cold, Strep throat or tonsillitis. But if you told me youd recently had unprotected sexuality after a first date, Id worry you might have HIV.

But Google may have some advantages over us. Patients may be more honest with computers than their doctors and more willing to share embarrassing details. Though patients may not think a computer can harbor prejudice, computers suffer from the foibles of their human creators.

Googles symptom checker wont replace doctors anytime soon. But its important to remember that Google is in the business of collecting, using and selling datum. So, people who care about public health shouldnt just ask whether Google can make an accurate diagnosis one day but at what expense that development might arrive.

Google is not going to replace your doctor- yet | Celine Gounder

Google Is Not Going To Replace Your Doctor- Yet | Celine Gounder

Google Is Not Going To Replace Your Doctor- Yet | Celine Gounder

Google Is Not Going To Replace Your Doctor- Yet | Celine Gounder

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