Surveys show about 80% of Americans have used an internet search engine at least once in order to check what their symptoms could mean when they’re not feeling well.
Many head to the web with medical questions before reaching out to a human.
“Roughly one in three adults will actually go to the internet first, before they even talk to a health care provider,” Amanda Joy, a physician assistant and the associate medical director for MedStar Health Urgent Care in the D.C. area, told WTOP.
The problem is that a search engine might not give you the best answers.
“Most of the time when you Google something, you unfortunately do get some biased information. You may get sponsored information. You may not get necessarily medically proven or peer-reviewed data,” Joy said.
People are also increasingly turning to ChatGPT and other artificial intelligence chatbots to get medical advice, and according to Joy, those can be more helpful.
“It can tell you, ‘Hey, you should really go to the emergency department. What your symptoms are showing shows signs of something like a stroke or a heart attack, something that can really cause permanent harm if it’s not addressed right away,'” she said.
When should you put down your smartphone, close your laptop, and go to an emergency room? Joy said the following symptoms should be checked out right away:
- Chest pain or shortness of breath
- Stroke-like symptoms, such as facial drooping, slurred speech or weakness or numbness in your limbs
- An allergic reaction
- Significant bleeding
- Significant accident or trauma
- Your baby has an extremely high fever for more than five days, or your newborn has a fever.
When is an urgent care center more appropriate?
“We save urgent care more for things like fractures or asthma flare-ups, UTIs, sinus infections,” Joy said, adding that most urgent care centers can test for COVID, flu and RSV.
She said many centers, including hers, can also perform rapid testing for STDs.