Just ask 'Dr Google'

So if doctors are losing ground, just who (or what) is filling the healthcare information gap?

At least one quarter of our respondents relied on primary sources of advice other than doctors. To compound this, about half agreed that they would only take the medication prescribed by their doctor if their other research backed it up! Most passionate about this were the Malaysians at 82%.

After doctors, friends and family were most likely to be the primary source of health information. On average, eight percent of respondents globally turned to family and friends as their main source - this was most pronounced in Malaysia (18%), Brazil (16%) and Russia (14%). In fact, in most of the nations surveyed, respondents were more likely to ask friends and family about their health than they were to ask a pharmacist or nurse!

Another main influencer is the internet. On average, five percent of respondents used it as their primary source, driven by Slovaks (16%), the Dutch (15%) and the Americans (10%). Commented Reinier Heutink:

"Despite the Dutch respect for GPs, there are discussions currently taking place in the Netherlands in which GPs state their fear of 'Doctor Google' - that is, patients using Google as their main diagnostic tool. People do want to be prepared and informed and be sparring partners with their GPs."

However, only 18% of all respondents agreed that they see their doctor less because they can often find out what they need to know on the internet. Although about a third of respondents in Slovakia (36%) and Russia (30%) and a quarter in the US and Malaysia agreed with this statement, almost no one did in India and Bulgaria.

For Serbians, Bulgarians, Brazilians, Germans, Indians and Turks, the pharmacist ruled over the internet. Those least likely to cite the pharmacist as a primary source of information were Americans and Malaysians.

Surprisingly, nurses were cited infrequently, with less than one percent of respondents saying they rely on the nurse as a primary source of information. US respondents were more than twice as likely, on average, to cite nurses as their primary source but it was still a small number.

Concluded Michael Spedding, CEO of Synovate Healthcare: "These findings are consistent with our experience; as knowledge is accessed through other channels and the population becomes more informed, we may well see the influence of the doctor decline further."

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