GP searching on Google!!!!

[Roseshavethorns100]

Hi to anyone who reads this post.
I was in my doctors for an appointment last week regarding getting hrt, told her I'd had a subtotal hysterectomy three years ago and listed my current symptoms, told her I just can't function properly anymore.
The next thing I know she's on Google reading out about the type of hrt that should be given after said hysterectomy.
Is this normal for Dr's to do? Am I wrong to be really annoyed about it?

Back in the day they’d be flicking through the books, I prefer the Google approach tbh as it’s more up to date, had several issues that drs have had a Google about. They cant know everything

Yes they definitely use Google! Had that before.
I’m sure in future GPs will be replaced by AI/ virtual appointments for non-examination type ailments.

DP checks medications on Google. Google takes you to all manner of professional sites, or not as needed. Honestly they can't remember all the dosages or side effects or contractions of every drug.

Can't you remember before the Internet when GPs had those big fat books of medication..they used to look up to see which was the best medication for you.. side effects etc.
Different ones work for different people.
It's only the same.. but easier on the Internet than those books.

of course that’s what i did and did my own research and requested a referral to the HRT clinic which he hadn’t suggested and I hadn’t known about at that point. Calm down .

Presumably, she was using Google to take her to a specific medical resource rather than looking at Wikipedia. Would you prefer it if she had gone old school and looked it up in a reference book?

My GP has done this multiple times for. Especially now im on heart medication she needed to double check it was compatible.

Its ridiculous to think that a GP or any doctor for that matter could know everything!

When I was pregnant I was hurled into a room to speak to a consultant, I had little CS in my blood, which isn't a good thing but she had NO idea and had to Google it. My partner was a bit miffed about this, but I figured it's something she had never dealt with before and can't be expected to remember every small thing surely? I'd rather she had the correct information instead of guessing and making stuff up!

If you went to a solicitor for advice, they would consult the most recent journals for updates in case law and maybe check the relevant statute or section etc that may impact your case/the advice they give. I suppose this is similar. If you went to a specialist menopause Dr, where that is all they did day in, day out, then I would expect them to be more up to date than a standard GP. If you went to the latter, whilst I'd be a bit disappointed that they had to google treatment for something that impacts half the population, I would rather have a Dr Google info than one who assumes they know absolutely everything. Someone who googles is more likely to listen to your input.

Probably already been said but they'll have been looking for a specific resource via Google.

Do you expect GPs and other HCPs to memorise absolutely everything they need to know to do their job?
In years gone by they would be referring to dusty old text books on shelves. It's no different.
The key is the training and knowledge needed to think critically and apply information correctly.

Sounds completely normal and sensible to me.

i think you have unrealistic expectations of a GP to be know or remember every current medical fact.

Don't they scour various texts and journals when they're studying to be general health practitioners!

well yes, but medicine is scientific and quite a lot can change between the last time they studied that specific area.

I'm a professional animator with 20 years experience. Sometimes I chuck animation queries, for example "constraint rigging", in a search engine but then use my expertise to apply those extra little tit bits of information to help my professional practice, I also know how to differentiate between a amateur and an expert when looking for the info. A novice looking at constraint rigging would have to go down a massive rabbit hole of information to apply that to an animation successfully and wouldn't be sure they're not looking at another novice for advice in the first place.

Now I'm not really comparing being an animator to being a doctor, but what I am saying is getting a little confirmation or help from google (which is basically an online directory to access expert knowledge if you know what to look for) then googling as a layman and not knowing what you're really looking at or how to apply it. Xx

They're generalists and usually educated and intelligent enough to be able to discern whether what they're reading is sound or not. They cannot know or remember everything to do with every medical problem that someone might present with. If you had an extremely useful and effective resource at your fingertips and you didn't use it to look up something you weren't sure of you'd be pretty stupid and possibly negligent.

Intelligent people are usually intelligent enough to recognise their limitations and mitigate for them. And yes I've had some GPs that made mistakes but they wouldn't have had they looked it up.

I used to work in a field (non medical) that required a lot of technical knowledge and of course I used the internet to look up things I only had a vague idea of or that didn't come up often or that weren't quite interesting enough to commit to memory. Why wouldn't I?

Yes, my very wonderful GP goes on google. A GP will be far better placed than the rest of us to recognise whether information is correct or not.

My GP uses often google in front of me now too. I've got a condition that's difficult to treat because I am hyper-sensitive to synthetic hormones which are the usual first line treatment. To be honest I prefer it to the old days when I told my GP that the contraceptive pill made me feel suicidal, he pulled a massive tome off his shelf, looked up the side effects of said pill and then told me I was wrong.

If you saw what I google you would also think I don’t have a clue lol 😂 but I can assure you I do.

Say for example I am trying to find the ellenberg value for salt reactivity for a Lecuanthemum vulgare. I might just google daisy. So I can sense check the species name quickly and get spelling (I probably wouldn’t because that’s a stupid example and the simplest I can think of). But it really can be that stupid. Just orientating myself and/ or doing a copy paste of specific spellings.

Well, I agree with you. 50% of the population will go through menopause so GP's really should not be clueless. HRT dosage is actually quite straightforward. Guidelines are also straightforward and could be read and absorbed within an hour.

However, it is better she googled than just made it up based on outdated knowledge like my GP! They get 45 minutes at medical school and unless they choose to update their knowledge they spout what the leaned 20-30 years ago in some cases.

I would download the guidelines myself and go back. State 'poor quality of life'. If she still won't prescribe ask to be referred to a menopause specialist.

The Menopause Support Network on Facebook is a great resource.

I’d go onto the google search page to look up specific NICE clinical guideline, or the CKS gp guidelines. So long as you know what website is giving you the most up to date info on a subject why does it matter where on the internet you start your search?

I would have been happier if the GP who looked at my test results and said “I don’t know what that means, but it’s probably nothing” had just googled. I went home, stuck the phrase she’d read out into Google, and got three pages telling me exactly what it meant. I ended up needing surgery, so it’s a good thing I checked.

I don’t expect GPs to have the medical equivalent of ‘the Knowledge’, and I appreciate a medical professional who’s willing to say “I don’t know” and look something up.

The best thing to do is research yourself before you go and then you have all the evidence! I often do this, so I am ready. I did this recently when I had a nasty tick bite and obviously had early Lymes. The GP suggested I wait, but I held my ground and got the treatment. Thank goodness as over the next couple of weeks I was really unwell and had just about every symptom.

the organisation I often need to refer to for regulation and guidance is shit and I rely on google to find this or that document.
I am trained on search terms and reliable sites though and assume the gp has something similar

This my GP is always checking NICE and BNF as I take a dozen medications and have allergies so it’s not a simple matter of prescribing what they usually do,

Thank you I agree with what you said and will go back but not to that doctor ever again