A “digital nurse” is to be deployed to help cancer patients sift fake news on-line, it was announced today.
The nurse, Ellen McPake, will be a real nurse appointed by Macmillan Cancer Support to provide help to patients using search engines to research their disease.
The charity says its latest research shows that nearly 50% of patients will look up their diagnosis on-line. A survey conducted by pollsters YouGov also found that 13% of patients went on-line because they did not fully understand information they had received.
The survey also found that 6% of patients concluded they had little chance of survival after conducting on-line searches.
Ms McPake said: “As more and more people seek information about their cancer online, we want them to know that charities like Macmillan are able to offer reliable health advice.
“In my new role, I’m there to make sure people affected by cancer have a real person they can turn to online for information about their symptoms, cancer diagnosis and treatment.”
The charity’s joint chief medical officer Professor Jane Maher said: “It’s completely natural for people to want to Google their diagnosis when they’re told they have cancer.
“But with countless unverified statistics, fake news and horror stories on the internet, ending up on the wrong website can be really worrying. This can leave people pinning their hopes on a dangerous bogus cure or underestimating the benefit of routine treatments.
“When someone learns they have cancer, it’s really important that health care professionals fully explain what their diagnosis means and the support available to them.
“They should also be able signpost their patients to trusted sources on-line so they aren’t left open to incorrect or misleading information.”
Leave a Reply