Access to health information has become so easy today that researching a sickness online may be the right thing to do. However, experts say this might not be the best choice.
Back in 2015, The National Institute of Health says more than one-third of adults nationwide use the Internet to self-diagnose their illnesses.
Experts say Google, Web MD, and Youtube are websites that people will go to for answers instead of their doctor. Once they get an answer they want to hear they choose the medication they believe is suitable for their sickness.
News 4-Fox 11 spoke to Catherine Estipona, a nurse practitioner at Saint Marys Regional Medical Center and she says that costly visits may prevent people from going to the doctors or hospital.
“Their co-pays are really high and they don’t want to go to urgent care or they don’t want to go to an ER or their primary care providers yeah there’s some truth to that. yeah, it’s easier to go on the internet because it’s free and then self-diagnose themselves” says Estepona.
Estipona also mentions that a lot of times patients who self-diagnose themselves end up being wrong because they do not fully understand their illness.
Sharon Winship, a patient at Saint Marys says, “It’s the convenience and also save time and money so if you don’t want to look for something minor then I don’t have to make an appointment. I can maybe do something over the counter. If I look up something major then I should probably go to the doctor.”