Non-physicians may reach correct diagnoses by using Google: a pilot study

Objective: We endeavoured to determine whether individuals who are not physicians are likely to arrive at correct diagnoses by using In-ternet resources. Methods: In this prospective study four non-physicians used Google to search for diagnoses. They reviewed the 26 diagnostic cases presented in the case records of the New England Journal of Medicine during 2005; they were blind to the cor-rect diagnoses. The main measurement was the percentage of correct diagnoses arrived at by non-physicians by using Google. The diagnostic suc-cess of the four non-physicians was compared to that of four young physicians. Results: The average diagnostic success o