Wiki, not just for the tin-hat crowd anymore...

New Scientist

Wikipedia articles appear in the top 10 results for more than 70 per cent of medical queries in four different search engines, according to a study in this month's Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association (DOI: 10.1197/jamia.M3059). It also gets more hits than corresponding pages on the US National Library of Medicine's MedlinePlus service.

This is worrying, and perhaps an indicator that some people's search engine strategies may not be up to scratch. A 2002 study found that most searchers use only one term in their searches and rarely look past the first page of results - though internet users may have improved the way they search since then (BMJ, vol 324, p 573). More disconcerting is the percentage of doctors who turn to Wikipedia for medical information: 50 per cent, according to a report in April by US healthcare consultancy Manhattan Research.

Even more disconcerting is that 50 per cent of doctors turn to the user-generated Wikipedia for health info
How does Wikipedia fare as a medical reference? Its collaborative, user-generated philosophy generally means that errors are caught and corrected quickly. Several studies, including one examining health information, another probing articles on surgery, and one focusing on drugs, found the online encyclopedia to be almost entirely free of factual errors.

Over 50% of doctors use wiki as a resource?????

I know I always use the web to finds the answers to computer related issues, why not the same thing for medical issues???

I thought you were going to say that people are starting to use TinWiki for searches. I would have been very happy to hear that.

Originally posted by mrmonsoon
Over 50% of doctors use wiki as a resource?????

Last year I was in the hospital emergency room with a cardiac reaction to a new glaucoma medicine I had just taken 30 minutes prior. The doctor was a young guy. He heard my symptoms, looked at the monitors, and then went on the internet to look up what the glaucoma med was and what the side effects could be.

He even said so.
He came back in the room and said 'I looked it up on the internet .... '

God help me ... this is a true story.

reply to post by FlyersFan


Forgive me, but that is just funny stuff....

Not your bad reaction to medication.....

But honestly, would it make anyone feel better id the doctor said he looked it up in a big medical book, no seriously......

I certainly agree, the young doctor could have presented it in a manner that would have provided much more confidence for the patient.

Something like, I researched the medicine and it's reactions from the drug manufacturer and we are going to do this to reslove your problem......