A Digital Doctor for the Internet Age

National Wise Health Consumer Month

A Digital Doctor for the Internet Age

By Dennis Thompson
HealthDay Reporter

(HealthDay News) -- Dr. Alex Krist became a family practitioner in 1996, just as the Internet was evolving from a cyberspace tool for government workers and college professors to an all-purpose source of information for anyone with a modem.

The ensuing years have given Krist a front-row seat for the evolution of the World Wide Web as a medical resource.

"In 1996, it'd be a rare patient who looked up something on the Internet and came in with questions," said Krist, who works at the Fairfax Family Practice Center in Fairfax , Va. , and also teaches as an assistant professor of family medicine at Virginia Commonwealth University .

But today, part of a physician's role is not only to diagnose patients, but also to discuss what they've learned on the Web prior to their visit, Krist said.

"There's a lot of bad information out there, there's a lot of commercial information," he said. "And there can be too much information, enough to overload the patient. One of my new jobs as a doctor is to help patients sort through all this information to get what they need."

Krist sees both promise and pitfalls in the availability of all this information.

As an example of the promise, he cited a recent patient who had been experiencing chronic fatigue and thought he might be suffering from depression. The patient had delved deep into research about depression, even looking into medications used to treat the disorder.

"Not only was he correct, he was informed about treatment options," Krist said. "It elevated the conversation we had about what was best for him."

That's not an infrequent occurrence these days. "The patient will say, 'Let me go look up these medications, and I'll get back with you, so we can discuss what I should take,' " Krist said.

But there also are pitfalls. The one that sprang most readily to Krist's mind was actually an old one, familiar to any doctor with a patient who owns a home medical reference.

"A patient will look up their symptoms and find a more rare and serious condition and be convinced that's the cause of their symptoms," Krist said. "It's not really a new scenario. It's just easier for people to do that on the Internet."

The increase in commercial Web sites, and broadcast advertisements for medicines (called direct-to-consumer advertising), also can influence the problems that a patient feels he or she should bring to their doctor, he said.

"People think it's more important to treat their allergies than they used to, thanks to all the commercial attention to those medications," Krist said.

But by and large, Krist believes the Internet has been a boon for both doctors and patients. He now can use his computer to prescribe medications and e-mail lab results to patients, and engage in e-mail conversations with patients prior to their scheduled office visit.

Krist foresees a day when patients will be able to access their medical records through his practice's Web site and use that information to determine a course of preventative medicine that will head off illness before it can start.

"It's improved my ability to talk with my patients and make sure they're getting the care they need," Krist said.