Kiwi doctors more trusting than Aussie colleagues

About 16 per cent of Australian doctors have googled their patients, but New Zealand doctors have slammed the practice.

A study, How doctors view and use social media, found that of 187 Australian doctors who responded to the online survey, 16.1 per cent admitted to having searched for publicly available information on their patient online.

In an emergency 37.8 per cent of doctors agreed it was appropriate to search online for information about a patient while 26.7 per cent said no and 35.6 per cent were unsure.

As part of regular clinical practice, 42.8 per cent said it was inappropriate and 40.6 per cent were unsure.

The reports’ authors questioned if a post on Facebook about a suicide attempt was any different to a written suicide note, arguing few would have any ethical concerns about reading the latter.

New Zealand Medical Association president Stephen Child said searching for information online was “extremely unusual”.He doubted the figure would be as high as 16 per cent, suggesting it was more likely to be 1 to 2 per cent.

“A doctor-patient relationship is based on trust. Trust is based on honest communication.”

Child said patients needed to be honest with their doctors and doctors needed to be upfront in their dealings with patients.

“You would never ever think of checking up on a patient. If they say they had stopped smoking, you would have to believe them.

“The only time that should ever be breached is if it’s going to save the patient or save others.”

Association of Salaried Medical Specialists executive director Ian Powell agreed it would generally be wise for doctors to avoid looking up patients online.

In December the NZMC advised doctors to exercise restraint in seeking information about patients.