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academies
International Surgery and Ortho Conference
October 25-26, 2017 | Toronto, Canada
Case Rep Surg Invasive Proced 2017 | Volume 1 Issue 3
Searching Google for patient information on basal cell carcinoma
Weiguang Ho, Christopher David Jones
and
Hilal Bahia
Ulster Hospital, UK
Introduction:
Basal Cell Carcinoma (BCC) is the commonest
type of skin cancer. Following consultation, patients often read
about their condition online prior to biopsy. Google is currently
the most popular internet search engine. We evaluated
information on BCC available when using Google as a search
tool for patient information.
Methods:
The term ‘Basal Cell Carcinoma’ was searched
using Google Chrome in ‘Incognito’ mode, with the cookies
preset turned off. The first 5 pages of results were analyzed
for information available on symptoms, prevention, diagnosis,
staging and treatment; type of organization represented; use
of citations and jargon; and whether the site was targeted
towards patients or healthcare professionals. Website traffic
information was gathered using Similar Web.
Results:
49 results returned from 45 unique websites. 36 were
from the UK and 13 from USA. The commonest results were
resource-, NHS-, and Charity-based websites. A significant
proportion was based on media and private healthcare. Most
of the links permitted easy access to prevention strategies,
symptoms, diagnosis and treatment, without excessive use of
jargon. However, information on cancer staging and evidence
citation was lacking. We felt that most websites were geared
towards patients. The websites received an average of 100.2
million visits globally and 25.2 million visits from the UK in a
month. Visits using search engines represented 74.6% of these.
Conclusion:
Our findings reflected the scale of use of search
engines by patients for information on BCC. Google has the
potential for disseminating important information on a vast
number of conditions. Certainareaswith roomfor improvement
were identified.
Speaker Biography
Weiguang Ho is currently working in the Department of Plastic Surgery at Ulster
Hospital, Belfast United Kingdom.
e:
cdj9lfc@gmail.com