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SALT LAKE CITY -- Doctors will tell you it's better to be an informed patient than not. But when does knowledge stop being power? If a patient, or a parent of a patient, has already diagnosed what's wrong and won't accept any other opinions about treatment, that's a problem.
Primary Children's Medical Center emergency physician Dr. Charles Pruitt says, "I have noticed that it has delayed the care."
If you're going to look up information about symptoms from websites, use credible sources.
Pruitt says he's had cases where parents haven't given him enough information about symptoms because they didn't think it was part of the real problem.
"If a patient limits the information they provide to their health care provider thinking that the information is not useful or not pertinent, that can be very dangerous," Pruitt says.
He says, if you're going to look up information about symptoms from websites, use credible sources.
"Governmental websites generally have very strict standards as far as the data that they put on the Internet," Pruitt says.
He recommends the websites of the Center for Disease Control and Prevention and the FDA. Plus, he says your doctor can help you find some of the best websites to help you find out more about your particular problem.
But, Pruitt says listening goes both ways in the doctor's office. He says parents are the best source of critical data for treating the child.
"I do encourage a team approach to treating a child and that involves taking the parents concerns and knowledge and history very, very seriously," he explains.
Pruitt says if you feel your doctor isn't taking your concerns seriously, get a second opinion.
E-mail: pnelson@ksl.com
