E-Medicine - Lost in Cyberspace? Try Googling Yourself.

About five years ago, Dr. John Bachman, professor of primary care at Mayo in Rochester, told me I could find almost anything I wanted to know on google.com. At the time, I was interested in Internet tools to increase practice productivity and use of computers for patient interviewing. John was right, of course. He usually is.

Later I learned it pays to google yourself. In fact, Joseph Scherger, MD, clinical professor of preventive and family medicine, University of California, San Diego, in “Google: Searching for a Reputation,” AMA News, April 23-30, 2007, wrote, “ I think everybody should periodically google themselves.” To gain insight into your standing in the medical world, Scherger advised, review yourself on google.

I followed Scherger’s advice and googled myself.

•Under Richard L. Reece, MD, I found 19 entries

•Under medinnovationblog, I discovered a dozen entries

•Under my latest book Innovation-Driven Health Care, I unearthed another dozen entries.

Try it yourself to see if the google algorithm can serve as your GPS in Cyberspace.

As we all know by now, the Internet changes everything. Google may be the greatest innovation ever to hit the Internet. The stock market agrees. Google is far outpacing Microsoft, Yahoo, and WebMD. Google is rated the world’s top brand, its brand worth $66 billion, more than GE, Microsoft, or Apple.

Accordingly, all of you doctors out there. Google yourselves from time to time to assess where your space in cyberspace.

How?

Simply go to google.com. Type your name in the search box. If you want to know the good news and the bad news about yourself, re-enter your name with modifiers like “praise ” or “complaints.” If you’re really curious, you might even extend your googling to yahooing or altavistaing.

Google is simple. It’s easy. And information about yourself is just a click away.

For you humanists and technologically impaired or challenged non-nerds out there, I close with three couplets.

To see how you rate, Google yourself,
just to make quite sure you’re top-shelf.

Go ahead and self-Google.
It’s no ego- boondoogle.

Think of self-googling.
As self-doodling.