Medindia LOGIN REGISTER
Medindia

How about Dr. Google? Search engine’s prowess in medical diagnosis stumps researchers

by Savitha C Muppala on Nov 10 2006 9:21 PM

If your General Practitioner is at the wits end trying to find an answer to a diagnostic problem, the solution might be available with a simple mouse click. Google, a force to be reckoned in the world wide web of reliable searches, and a veritable repertoire of information is soon getting popular as an able diagnostic tool, to the succor of medical experts the world over.

With modern medicine growing by the second, it is foolhardy to expect a doctor to be a walking encyclopedia of medical information. Though the brain is akin to a computer, yet there is a cap on how much information it can assimilate and more importantly recall at the opportune time. It is estimated that Google enables access to over three billion medical information on the web.

Researchers from Brisbane University, purporting to put the information powerhouse to an acid test, chose 26 of the toughest cases - Lo and behold, the search engine arrived at the perfect diagnosis in almost 58% of the cases, all with just a few keystrokes. Now, experts have no cause to sweat over tough cases, sure enough Google will rise to the occasion. And this is no googly!



Source-Medindia
SAV


Advertisement