The New England Journal of Medicine is running a perspective, Googling Ourselves — What Physicians Can Learn from Online Rating Sites, by Shaili Jain, M.D., the founder of bedsidemanner.com.

I am trying to find out how my patients are rating me on the Internet — another important set of results, this one globally accessible. My patients often Google a medication I've recommended or a disease I've diagnosed, despite the fact that I give them medication data sheets and patient educationpamphlets. I figure it is not inconceivable that they would Google me too, and I'm curious to see what they will find. The Internet has become the 21st century's answer to word of mouth or over-the-garden-fence chitchat, so I think it's wise to keep tabs on what is said about me in cyberspace.

... How can one be sure the person posting a review is really a patient and not someone with a grudge against the physician? If a physician disagrees with a particular comment, there is no opportunity for rebuttal: physicians are bound by privacy laws and a duty to preserve the confidentiality of patient information. Also, most rated physicians average a handful of ratings, which can hardly reflect the full range of impressions of a physician who sees hundreds of patients each year.

I find one score for me on Vitals.com — a pathetic 2.5 out of 5 — but I don't see any comments and can't figure out whether this is an aggregate score. It looks as if I have to pay for further information, so I scan the results for my colleagues. Most are not rated, some got 1 out of 5, and one got 4 out of 5. I exit the site, deciding its offerings are not meaningful. A few more minutes of surfing reveals that my Internet reputation is intact. I am relieved.

An unforeseen positive consequence of this anxiety-provoking process, however, is that I stumble upon stories that patients are telling about their doctors. Some older sites have collected thousands of such stories ...

Read the rest of the NEJM article.