We rely on the internet for a lot of things, but are online reviews always helpful? If you’re anything like me, you’ve probably found some pretty funny online reviews in your travels across the internet, whether they be for products on Amazon, YouTube videos, or something else. It only takes a couple of these hilarious reviews for you to realize that perhaps we can’t trust this type of thing quite as much as we would like to.
This applies to physicians, too. Online reviews can be valuable, but they also can be quite misleading, especially when things beyond the doctors’ control are taken into account. For example, I’ve seen Amazon reviews that critique how the delivery person handled their package. While this is certainly an issue, it doesn’t mean that the product itself was faulty.
Online reviews for physicians seem to carry a lot of weight with some people, but not with all. Doctors especially have been vocal about how inaccurate these reviews can be, some going as far as to file defamation lawsuits against websites that host review sections.
To try and put this issue to rest, researchers from the University of Texas at Dallas decided to look at online reviews for physicians and evaluate whether they were accurate and effective models for helping patients find a new doctor. The team of researchers put together a study to try and figure out whether these types of reviews could be considered as reliable or not. Although the researchers primarily focused on doctors treating chronic diseases, they did take other things into account, too. However, because those that have chronic conditions tend to see multiple doctors, thus making the patients that see these doctors more apt to have a better idea of which doctors were better than others.
What researchers found was that online reviews for these doctors were not all that accurate. Ratings, stars, and comments were largely not reflective of the quality of care that was actually given. The researchers said that although online reviews are good for tangible products, they were not effective for intangible things like medical services.
They published their findings in the journal Information Systems Research.
Reviews can sometimes make or break a business, but it’s important that they are not the only thing that you are taking into account. That goes for doctors, restaurants, and senior care, just to name a few. Anyone can leave a review for anything, regardless of whether or not they are biased, disgruntled because of something else going on in their life, or even if they’ve never used the particular item or service they are reviewing. The beauty of the internet is that it levels the playing field when it comes to information. But this can be a double edged sword in some cases.
Ultimately, these kinds of big decisions should not be based on just a handful of reviews, but on whether or not the service being provided is going to be of help to your family. Finding a good doctor is important, but unfortunately, online reviews are not the best way to make this happen.
Leave a Reply