Husband and wife doctor team provide healthy alternative to Googling

November 17, 2006

Source: Queen's University
http://qnc.queensu.ca/story_loader.php?id=455dcf8b7a0a6

Husband and wife doctor team – Sanjay Sharma, an ophthalmologist, and family physician Susan Sharma – have created a new website that provides accurate, timely information for patients looking for medical answers online.

Insidermedicine (www.insidermedicine.ca) is a daily news program that is written, reported and produced by Queen's doctors and medical students. It seeks to bring accurate and cutting-edge health information to consumers. The daily program covers topics ranging from disease prevention to breaking news pertaining to specific diseases such as cancer and heart disease.

"We started the service because more patients were coming into our offices with information that they downloaded from the Internet. The problem was that much of the information wasn’t correct," says Dr. Sanjay Sharma, the Chief Editor of Insidermedicine and professor of Ophthalmology and Epidemiology at Queen's.

The site began with Dr. Sharma handling the camera and his wife, Dr. Susan Sharma, handling reporting duties. The team has grown significantly to involve 15 people, including Kate Pulman and Maria Radina, both medical students at Queen’s.

A recent research study conducted by the Pew Internet and American Life Project, a non-profit think tank, showed that while millions search for heath news, only 15 per cent of people seek out the source, and only 1 in 4 look at the date to see how current the material is. This could have major implications for your health.

"If people are attempting to make healthcare decision for themselves or their loved ones on incorrect information, it may affect their health," says Dr. Sharma.

"Our goal is really to get information into patients’ hands at the same time that doctors are reading about it," says Dr. Susan Sharma. "On a daily basis, we have a team of doctors talking to researchers, talking to editors of the major scientific journals and attending medical conferences to create our breaking news stories. In the end we want to take evidence-based medicine directly to the patient."

Each weekday, four to eight videos are filmed to cover topics ranging from health promotion and disease prevention to breaking news pertaining to managing specific diseases like, heart disease, cancer and diabetes.

A U.S. version of Insidermedicine can be viewed at www.insidermedicine.com

For more information contact Molly Kehoe, molly.kehoe@queensu.ca, (613) 533-2877, Nancy Dorrance, nancy.dorrance@queensu.ca, (613) 533-2869

Attention broadcasters: Queen's now has facilities to provide broadcast quality audio and video feeds. For television interviews, we can provide a live, real-time double ender from Kingston.