PHILADELPHIA – Google might help internal medicine residents
identify rare kidney problems but offered no help in the
diagnosis of common renal conditions, investigators reported
here. A study showed that internal medicine residents aided by
Google achieved equal status with nephrology fellows for
diagnosis of kidney disorders but were significantly less
accurate than attending nephrologists (P<0.001). Subgroup
analyses showed that "Googlers" were no match for attending
nephrologists for common or uncommon kidney disorders (P<0.001,
P=0.014), Peter Schrier, MD, of Hofstra North Shore-Long Island
Jewish School of Medicine in New York, and colleagues concluded
in a poster presentation at the American Society of Nephrology
meeting. Nephrology fellows also outperformed residents using
the Internet search engine for diagnosis of common renal
problems (P=0.031), but the Google-aided residents did better
with rare kidney disorders (P=0.029), the researchers reported.
"Google is a good tool to help medical residents