GPs Warn Patients About Self-Diagnosing and Prescribing On-Line
Patients who choose to use the Internet to self-diagnose or self-prescribe instead of seeing their general practitioner are playing Russian Roulette, the Australian Medical Association warned today.
During the AMA's Family Doctor Week, Chair of the AMA's Council of General Practice, Dr David Rivett, said consulting a computer screen for the answers to complex or even simple health problems is dangerous and potentially harmful.
"The Internet can be useful if you want to find out more and learn more about diseases or other conditions, but relying on it alone for advice is not very helpful," Dr Rivett said.
"A face to face consultation with your family doctor enables a broadly qualified expert in the field of medicine to fully assess your symptoms and to better understand the signs for particular conditions. Self-prescribing for example, doesn't take into account an individual's:
- blood pressure;
- other illnesses, like undiagnosed diabetes;
- allergies or interactions with other medications; or
- any side effects.
"We know that some patients are going to their doctor with information from the Internet, and that should not be discouraged. However, sometimes the information comes from questionable web sites and it can be very misleading," Dr Rivett said.
President of the Tasmanian Branch of the AMA, Dr John Davis, said patients should also be careful about the legitimacy of an Internet site.
"There are hundreds of different sites to choose from for different health issues but only some are legitimate and are maintained by qualified organisations like the:
- Federal Health Department;
- Australian colleges of medicine; and
- various medical associations like the AMA.
"Patients should also be reminded that many sites have an ulterior motive like making money from the information they provide about health," Dr Davis said.