All Together Now: The Internet Does Not Replace Health Professionals

March 4, 2010 · Filed Under trends & principles · 56 Comments 

The March 4 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine includes a letter from Brad Hesse, Richard Moser, and Lila Rutten, three National Cancer Institute researchers whose work is a continual inspiration to me.

Their analysis of data from the Health Information National Trends Survey (HINTS) shows that the vast majority of Americans, “despite a decade’s worth of exposure to health information on the internet,” continue to trust physicians. Don’t you just love the word “exposure,” as if the internet is an infection let loose on the population?

Another favorite passage includes a citation of a 2008 study: Does the Internet displace health professionals? Yes? No? I’ll never know since it’s behind a pay wall, but I suspect it is being cited with the same “silly rabbit” tone I’m seeing associated with that awesome 1995 Clifford Stoll “hype alert” article making the rounds this week. Hesse, Moser, and Rutten seem to be reassuring NEJM readers: Don’t worry, you are still #1 in your patients’ hearts.

But hold the smartphone: Guess which source consistently comes out on top when people are asked where they actually turn first for cancer information? The internet! Read more

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A quote I won’t soon forget

October 15, 2009 · Filed Under Why PM, hc's problem list, key people, news & gossip, understanding statistics · 26 Comments 

Marcia Angell MD is a well-known, respected physician, long-time editor of NEJM. So it was a bit of a shock today when Amy Romano, blogger for Lamaze International, sent me this quote:

It is simply no longer possible to believe much of the clinical research that is published, or to rely on the judgment of trusted physicians or authoritative medical guidelines. I take no pleasure in this conclusion, which I reached slowly and reluctantly over my two decades as an editor of The New England Journal of Medicine.

From Drug Companies & Doctors: A Story of Corruption in The New York Review of Books, around New Year’s.

Dana Blankenhorn of the ZDNet health blog called it “a bombshell.” I couldn’t agree more. And I must say, with all the smart people in this community, why on earth haven’t we heard more about this??

And how on earth are we supposed to be empowered participatory patients if we can’t trust the world’s leading journal?

For one thing, we can have our eyes wide open about the evidence we’re supposed to trust. Get educated. Learn how to read health news reporting – including the journals. Wise up.

Think critically. It’s a fundamental part of being an empowered patient.

_____

Related reading:

No *other* conflict of interest, huh? (11/08)

Negative data on Seroquel suppressed by manufacturer (2/09)

Dr. Reuben deeply regrets that this happened (3/09)

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