“Teacher’s Pet” is something I have been accused of. “I hate John Hong. Not only does he break the curve on the exams, but he’s the teacher’s pet,” was something I heard when I walked into organic chemistry class one day. Becky, the pre-vet student who said this, say me and said, “Oops, don’t get me wrong! But do you have to ask questions that go beyond what the textbook says?” I was just a dork who was curious to know more.

But when I arrived at UVA School of Medicine, I was no longer the teacher’s pet. I was an underfed dog at the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show. The good thing I learned in medical school was to know my limitations. Is it dangerous to believe you know everything?

In the Tony award winning musical Avenue Q, a puppet sings, “The internet is for porn.” I would strongly disagree. It is for iTunes and for medical information. Fifty percent of internet users search for med info, and I see how this has made a huge difference in my encounters with patients. In some ways, it makes things better because I have a more informed patient who is going to take more responsibility for his or her own care. On the other hand, it has made things way worse because I’m dealing with consumers now– not just patients. And as I have learned by shopping with my friends, consumers can ask a lot of questions and have a lot more demands.

The Am J Clin Nutr 2003; 77 (suppl): 1016S-8S writes that the internet is used for med info for four main reasons.

1) Lack of information during an office visit. Due to decreasing reimbursement and increasing overhead, office visits are short. You know, I type like the Bionic man so I give every patient an “instruction sheet” to spell out things for that visit. But even then, it might not spell everything out for the patient.

2) Lack of faith in their doctor’s ability. Are there bad doctors? Of course! But I think there are waaaaaay more bad internet medical sites and, well hate to say this– bad patients. If I could have a nickel for every challenge to a doctor’s judgment, oooooo, I would be living in Trump Towers. The internet has a lot of bad information that are not clinically or statistically significant. If a person in Siberia gets a hangnail while taking a medicine, the internet will lead you to believe you could die from excessive bleeding from this hangnail. But it scares patients to question their doctor.

And I mention “bad patient” because some patients “doctor shop” and never carry through with a doctor’s advice– which results in a frustrated patient. The internet really can make doctor shopping easy as shopping on eBay.

3) Avoid embarrassment on sensitive topics with their doctor. I believe this. The #1 hit on my DrJohnHong.com website is on herpes.

4) Research for a friend or family member. The problem with Dr. Internet is that I get many odd questions such as, “Aunt Agnes said I should ask you if I have cervical cancer.” Ah, but you are a man.

This is why I always say in the media, “I don’t give advice. I only provide information about a disease or health topic. You need to consult with your own doctor.” I get plenty of medical questions from readers and viewers, but I don’t know them. I can’t be like Dr. Phil who quips simple answers to strangers like, “Get over it!” I don’t think that works. Learning about a medical condition is worthwhile, but making your own diagnosis can make a hangnail into a hanging.

(c) Dr. John Hong, Inc.

This entry was posted on Monday, November 2nd, 2009 at 6:52 pm and is filed under Internet Medicine, Patient Behavior, Video. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.