Who is the best doctor who uses Mahalo Answers? Do you see a need for doctors to prove their qualification?

As someone with a medical qualification, although not currently practising clinical medicine, I would say that although the advice from a doctor on services like this may be very helpful, it should not necessary be taken as gospel. Advice from a layman (particularly when it is based on experience) can be just as useful. Believe it or not, doctors are not perfect.

Many will differ in their opinions on how to approach problems, and no doctor should base a 'definitive diagnosis' merely on a conversation with a patient without an examination (even if that is limited to seeing the patient face-to-face, it is still an examination of sorts). I remember being taught "if you don't put your finger in it, you may put your foot in it"! I think if offered, most, if not all doctors would avoid this validation / authentication.By forcing them to operate in an 'official' capacity, they would be opening themselves to litigation.

I don't personally believe in non-contact diagnostic systems. In the United Kingdom|UK, we have a system called National Health Service|NHS direct, which is a telephone service for medical advice.In my experience, working in an A&E department, mostly their 'advice' (for any ailment) is to either go to their doctor, or if it is out of hours to go to their local A&E department (for even the most minor problems... just in case! ).

Of course they are covering themselves to avoid litigation, but actually increasing, rather than decreasing the work of doctors! So, advice from a doctor on a site like this can never be a replacement for seeing a doctor in person. If anything, doctors might consider concealing their 'professional identity' to avoid this sort of confusion.

I know I doubted announcing that I had any sort of medical experience, and I am willing to bet that there are doctors using this site who have not given any indication of their professional qualifications.

"There are many different types of doctors in many different positions. While an ER Intern may not have the time to pursue personal endeavors, doctors are people too and spend their time in the same ways the rest of us do."Do you believe doctors should be validated as real doctors with some sort of seal or validation to prove they are in fact doctors? "No.

If Mahalo Answers did this then why wouldn't they validate all other professionals? One of the interesting things about Mahalo Answers (and the Internet in general) is that one can receive input on a variety of topics from a diverse selection of people. "Do you believe communicating with a doctor online can really make a difference in someone's life, opposed to actually going to see a doctor in person?

"Yes. Completing and delivering a diagnosis is very similar to teaching. While not every diagnosis (or lesson) can be delivered online, many of them can.

I think that you have an interesting idea. If Mahalo was transposed into a medical version and an authentication module was created to check credentials, this could be a valuable medical tool. Here in Ontario, we have a call in system called Telehealth.

You call in, talk to a registered nurse and recieve help. This has significantly cut down on ER wait times and has extended our healthcare. I've used it twice for problems with my kids and if I knew that they had a Mahalo Answers system in place, I would have gone there first.

Who knows, maybe they'll whitelabel for some of the medical sites one day. Apparently there's money in Health Care Technology :).

I've posted my qualifications on my profile page. I think this is enough and MA doesn't need to require any more than that. In my profession, it's very important to give "informed consent".

The client needs to know what your qualifications are and other aspects of your business. In therapy-land, it's very important to communicate and maintain boundaries... this is one way.

I cant really gove you an answer,but what I can give you is a way to a solution, that is you have to find the anglde that you relate to or peaks your interest. A good paper is one that people get drawn into because it reaches them ln some way.As for me WW11 to me, I think of the holocaust and the effect it had on the survivors, their families and those who stood by and did nothing until it was too late.