How to search for online information about any disease? : important tips for patients.
An online search for disease and health-related information is the primary method used by everyone to learn about health and disease. There are some excellent online sources for such type of information, whereas most others are inaccurate, incomplete, and often plain advertisements. These are important tips for online search for any medical conditions so that you can have accurate information from credible sources.
1. Define what you want to know after an online search.
Is it information about a disease condition/treatment method?
Or
Do you want to know what disease you have?
If you are on the internet to know what disease you have, based on what complaints you are having, then you are in the wrong place. You should better be in a doctor’s clinic.
If you have a fever for the last 3 days, it will be an expensive mistake to search the internet whether you have typhoid or dengue?
Just to learn this supposedly simple trick, it takes a doctor more than ten years ( 6 years MBBS, 3 years MD/MS, and than 3 years post-PG residency ). Even after that, all he/she can do is to take a good guess, which needs some diagnostic tests to confirm. You may still have dengue, even if the tests are showing positive for typhoid.
Clinical practice is an imperfect science, you should let your doctor handle it.
If everything has to be left to the doctor, then what should you search online?
Now since you have seen the doctor, and he says that he is suspecting, you to have dengue, then you are fit to start your search online.
Your natural curiosity will be to know
- What exactly is the disease? (Diagnosis)
- Why did you get it and how you could have avoided it? (Prevention)
- What is its current management? (Treatment)
- What can you do from your side to get well soon? (Prevention)
- What is the usual outcome of patients having this disease? ( Prognosis)
- Are there any long term effects? ( Prognosis)
If everything has to be left to the doctor, then what should you search online?
Now since you have seen the doctor, and he says that he is suspecting, you to have dengue, then you are fit to start your search online.
Your natural curiosity will be to know
- What exactly is the disease? (Diagnosis)
- Why did you get it and how you could have avoided it? (Prevention)
- What is its current management? (Treatment)
- What can you do from your side to get well soon? (Prevention)
- What is the usual outcome of patients having this disease? ( Prognosis)
- Are there any long term effects? ( Prognosis)
2. infections or infectious diseases.
Wikipedia defines as “Infection is the invasion of an organism’s body tissues by disease-causing agents, their multiplication, and the reaction of host tissues to the infectious agents and the toxins they produce. Infectious disease, also known as transmissible disease or communicable disease, is illness resulting from an infection.”
The best websites for information regarding this disease is.
Patient-related information
Public health related information
Wikipedia gives you more or less complete information regarding all aspects of diseases from causes to treatment and outcome.
It provides the list of contents in which you can search for what exactly you are looking for.
The information is very accurate and updated.
The information is unbiased and is updated by people without any financial interest.
If you are interested in how tuberculosis is diagnosed in a patient, it provides accurate details of the current medical practice guidelines.
The best part of Wikipedia is that it also gives links to the details of the scientific terminologies given in the text.
Often people do not know the medical terminologies, so have a problem in understanding the text. You can open the links and understand what that word means.
Besides addressing important issues like treatment, disease course, and outcome, the last part of the page is dedicated to the current research going on the topic.
Further down the page, it has references that show that the information is sourced from highly credible resources.
3. lifestyle disease.
Lifestyle diseases are defined by Wikipedia as “diseases linked with the way people live their life. Diseases that impact our lifestyle are heart disease, stroke, obesity, and type II diabetes.
The diseases include Alzheimer’s disease, arthritis, atherosclerosis, asthma, cancer, chronic liver disease or cirrhosis, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, type 2 diabetes, heart disease, metabolic syndrome, chronic renal failure, osteoporosis, stroke, depression, obesity and vascular dementia. ” as defined by Wikipedia
Lifestyle disorders like diabetes, blood pressure, obesity are very common in the US.
The US health agency CDC offered one of the finest and well-organized contents on this topic. It’s written for public use. It’s accurate, updated, and unbiased.
The best websites for information regarding lifestyle diseases are in this order.
On topics like diabetes, hypertension and other lifestyle disorder, it provides the best information available online in a way which is well organized, easy to search and understand by a person having no previous knowledge of medicine or medical terminologies.
If you are a diabetic and searching for diabetes, it offers almost everything you need to know.
It has a detailed index/content toolbar, which gives you access to plenty of information, actually everything you need to know.
If you are looking for diabetes, the tool bar on left side shows all the subheading under diabetes and the commonly searched options are prominently displayed as buttons ( solid red arrow).
It has a detailed index/content toolbar, which gives you access to plenty of information, actually everything you need to know.
If you are looking for diabetes, the toolbar on the left side shows all the subheading under diabetes and the commonly searched options are prominently displayed as buttons ( solid red arrow)
In the segment, ” type 2 diabetes”, it gives all the relevant details a patient might need. Like
How you can manage your diabetes?
How to check your blood sugar?
What are the complications of diabetes?
What should be done to avoid them?
So forth and so on.
It provides information about, from, routine for better management of diabetes to the prevention of diabetes complications.
In complications, it elaborates each and every complication possible, even the ways you can avoid those.
You get the point; it’s the best site for patient-related information on health-related issues.
www.who.org another excellent site for information about health-related disorders. You can search from the alphabetic list provided or the popular search topics.
If you searching for Nipah virus,
The left side toolbar ( vertical red arrow ) provides all the information about the disease.
A right-sided toolbar (horizontal red arrow) provides information about other related medical conditions.
www.who.org is the best site to look for if you are interested in public health-related information like a recent outbreak of the current research on the issue.
Besides the Wikipedia and the CDC, another excellent website for the above conditions is
www.nhsinform.scot allows you to search by complaints (signs and symptoms ), which is a great help as most of the patients may not know the exact name of the disease.
If you are looking to say “backache “, the website will provide you with the articles to explain what exactly is this problem.
The website also provides you with guides to help yourself.
Left-sided toolbar covers related subjects, topics, and even subtopics in every topic.
The SELF HELP GUIDE provides you detailed instructions in a form of video or slide share.
4. Mental, Psychological and Psychiatric disorders
Wikipedia defines mental health as ” the successful performance of a mental function, resulting in productive activities, fulfilling relationships with other people, and providing the ability to adapt to change and cope with adversity. The term mental illness refers collectively to all diagnosable mental disorders—health conditions characterized by alterations in thinking, mood, or behavior associated with distress or impaired functioning.”
Wikipedia defines mental disorders as ” A person struggling with their mental health may experience this because of stress, loneliness, depression, anxiety, relationship problems, death of a loved one, suicidal thoughts, grief, addiction, ADHD, Cutting, Self-harm, Self-Injury, burning, various mood disorders, or other mental illnesses of varying degrees, as well as learning disabilities. Therapists, psychiatrists, psychologists, social workers, nurse practitioners or physicians can help manage mental illness with treatments such as therapy, counseling, or medication.”
The US has a large segment of the population having issues regarding mental health, and so US government-funded organizations like NIH provided one of the best information regarding these disorders.
The best website to search for mental health-related issues is www.nimh.nih.gov
It even has segments for related topics, therapy, and treatments.
It has segments for special populations like diseases related to children, the elderly, etc.
If you are looking for information regarding Depression, it has segments like signs and symptoms and treatment options.
- Option “join a study” gives you the information on how and where one can find a clinical trial on this disease to participate as a patient.
If you are looking for information regarding Depression, it has segments like signs and symptoms and treatment options.
- Option “join a study” gives you the information on how and where one can find a clinical trial on this disease to participate as a patient.
5. Addictions and substance abuse
Wikipedia defines as “Substance abuse, also known as drug abuse, is a patterned use of a drug in which the user consumes the substance in amounts or with methods which are harmful to themselves or others, and is a form of substance-related disorder. Widely differing definitions of drug abuse are used in public health, medical, and criminal justice contexts. In some cases, criminal or anti-social behavior occurs when the person is under the influence of a drug, and long term personality changes in individuals may occur as well. In addition to possible physical, social, and psychological harm, use of some drugs may also lead to criminal penalties, although these vary widely depending on the local jurisdiction.”
Wikipedia defines as “Addiction is a brain disorder characterized by compulsive engagement in rewarding stimuli despite adverse consequences. Despite the involvement of a number of psychosocial factors, a biological process – one which is induced by repeated exposure to an addictive stimulus – is the core pathology that drives the development and maintenance of an addiction. The two properties that characterize all addictive stimuli are that they are reinforcing(i.e., they increase the likelihood that a person will seek repeated exposure to them) and intrinsically rewarding (i.e., they are perceived as being inherently positive, desirable, and pleasurable).”
Drug Abuse and Addiction is a serious problem in the US and the National Institute for drug abuse provides the BEST information on this issue.
6. Injury/ Accident / Trauma / Burn
Wikipedia defines as “Injury, also known as physical trauma, is damage to the body caused by an external force. This may be caused by accidents, falls, hits, weapons, and other causes. Major trauma is an injury that has the potential to cause prolonged disability or death. “
Wikipedia defines as “An accident, also known as an unintentional injury, is an undesirable, incidental, and unplanned event that could have been prevented had circumstances leading up to the accident been recognized, and acted upon, prior to its occurrence. Most scientists who study unintentional injury avoid using the term “accident” and focus on factors that increase the risk of severe injury and that reduce injury incidence and severity.”
Wikipedia defines as “Trauma most often refers to:
Traumatic injury, sudden physical injury caused by an external force, which does not rise to the level of major trauma
Major trauma, in physical medicine, severe physical injury caused by an external source
Psychological trauma, a type of damage to the psyche that occurs as a result of a severely distressing event “
Wikipedia defines as “A burn is a type of injury to the skin, or other tissues, caused by heat, cold, electricity, chemicals, friction, or radiation. Most burns are due to heat from hot liquids, solids, or fire…… Burns can also occur as a result of self-harm or violence between people.”
A good website to provide information on these issues is http://www.healthdirect.gov.au.
The website has the option of checking your conditions by selecting the options on display.
The “SYMPTOMS CHECKER ” offers the option of self-assessment of your own conditions to see what should you do next.
For example, If you have a head injury and you want to check what d do next, go to START SYMPTOM CHECKER and select the option of head injury from the list arranged alphabetically.
It asks you a set of the preformed question with multiple options as the answer.
Most of the questions are either yes /no types or have multiple options to choose from.
Options are easy to understand or have an icon for explaining it if required.
Once you have answered all the questions, it advises you, what to do next.
The advice includes how you can take care or yourself, what are the issues you should look for, whether you immediately consult the doctor or you can afford to delay it, etc.
7. Surgery / Surgical procedure / Medical procedure
Fee for surgery /surgical procedures / medical procedures are the primary earning source for most of the hospitals /clinics. The websites directly related to the hospitals/clinic or those which engaged in doctor/ hospital search have basic information about the procedures/surgeries done there. This is to attract the attention of those searching for surgical/medical procedures.
Obviously the purpose of providing the information is to help you to make up your mind to buy the services/product being sold on or through the websites.
It’s not that these websites provide false information, but often the information is not accurate and lacks details. All medical and surgical procedures and treatments have side effects, complications, and failures associated with them. The details of these downsides of the surgery/ procedures may not be fairly displayed as these may scare the potential patients away. So if you want to actually know about the details of the procedure, its complications, and failure rates, the websites of hospitals and doctor search websites, are not the good options.
In this regard, websites like Wikipedia, NIH, and sites related to teaching hospitals and institutions are the best, as they do not have a conflict of interest in sharing information regarding different aspects of disease and treatment.
For example, if you search for a term, ” kidney transplant”, on the google home page.
This is the top third of the google search page. It shows mostly information websites. Wikipedia and similar websites are best if you are interested in patients related information, like disease, treatment, etc. These sites do not provide details about cost, doctor or hospitals.
If you are interested in knowing how exactly the surgery or procedures are done, then the middle part of the google page provides the videos, which have animation and real-life footage of actual surgery.
Google list, the websites which are sponsored or belong to hospitals or actual service provides. The sponsored sites are explicitly tagged as ” Ad” by google. These websites are best to decide where to have the procedures done. Hospital websites provide the details of the doctor and the procedures/surgeries you are looking for. The cost of the procedure is not directly displayed on the website, but they provide phone numbers for contact/ inquiry. You call them to get the idea of how much the procedure and surgery cost at their hospitals, including the usual duration of stay in the hospital for that procedure.
Conclusion
There are many good websites to search for health and disease-related information. These sites are fewer in number as compared to commercial websites engaged in sales, marketing, and advertisements of health-related product and services. Its the discretion of the user to chose which is the correct site to search. it is advisable to go for websites that do not have any economic interest in the health or disease-related information they are providing.
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