Open AccessReliability of "Google" for obtaining medical information
Author(s) -
Mihir Kothari,
Samita Moolani
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
indian journal of ophthalmology/indian journal of ophthalmology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.542
H-Index - 51
eISSN - 1998-3689
pISSN - 0301-4738
DOI - 10.4103/0301-4738.156934
Subject(s) - medicine , the internet , disease , medical information , reliability (semiconductor) , medline , information retrieval , internet privacy , world wide web , family medicine , pathology , computer science , power (physics) , physics , quantum mechanics , political science , law
Internet is used by many patients to obtain relevant medical information. We assessed the impact of "Google" search on the knowledge of the parents whose ward suffered from squint. In 21 consecutive patients, the "Google" search improved the mean score of the correct answers from 47% to 62%. We found that "Google" search was useful and reliable source of information for the patients with regards to the disease etiopathogenesis and the problems caused by the disease. The internet-based information, however, was incomplete and not reliable with regards to the disease treatment.