Dr Internet

As a bright-eyed new tech who loves helping not only animals but the people who care for them I found /pets and /puppy101 on reddit.com and thought I'd share my knowledge.  I answered a question on a cat who's not using his litterbox and a guy having issues with his aquarium and I felt all warm and fuzzy inside.  Then I stumbled on "Help!  I found this on my dog!".  I clicked on it and it wasn't a photo of a tick or a flea.  It was a blurry photo of a reddened area of skin with some hair missing.  And the person added at the end that they can't take their dog to the vet because it costs too much.

I know this makes a lot of us in the veterinary medicine world really angry, but I want to look beyond that anger to see if there are ways that we can stem the tide of people seeking Dr Internet over their veterinarian.

I suppose the impression that this person got with his last vet visit was something like:  My dog was fine, I was just a little concerned about this red bald patch so I took him to the vet and came away with one dose of medication and it cost me $250!  Then they want me to come back for a recheck.  I wonder how much it'll cost for them to tell me he's fine?

And from the clinic's point of view:  The dog came in overdue for his vaccines, with a lapse in heartworm medication, sarcoptic mange was found to be the cause of the skin issue, but only after a skin scrape test.  A dose of ivermectin was given and the dog was sent home vaccinated, with heartworm preventative, and a great prognosis!

So, on one side of the equation is very little value from the perspective of the client, and lots of value seen from the perspective of the hospital.  I believe that bridging that gap is key.  Apparently people out there believe that a diagnosis can be made with a photo or a description of symptoms.  And I wonder -are they not being told about the range of possible causes and tests that are being done at their vet clinic in order to make the diagnosis?

Maybe we as vet staff need to place more of an emphasis on "we know how to get to the answer" rather than "we have the answer".  The answer to most day-to-day questions can be googled and I think clients believe the answer to their medical questions is just as easily found on google.  If that guess is correct, then I think it needs to be our job to educate people about how much work goes into making the diagnosis. That's what justifies the bill even if the answer is all they came looking for.