It is widely accepted that people use Dr. Google to try to diagnose their health complaints, look for advice, or seek signposting for support. However, should Google be used by professionals with a duty of care over Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (M.E/C.F.S) patients to establish what the condition is and how they should be supporting them within their specific sector?
Here at Stripy Lightbulb, we strongly believe that using Google (other search engines are available) is wholly inadequate when dealing with a controversial and complex condition such as M.E/C.F.S.
Our e-courses were created by our Managing Director Sally Callow who, as a patient of 13 years and an advocate of 5 years, is an expert on the subject of M.E/C.F.S. Even with her prior knowledge of the condition, Sally took over 2 months to research and find reliable resources to be included within our e-training. This is because reliable information is not easy to find and on many sites there is a bias towards one hypothesis or another as to what M.E/C.F.S is.
M.E/C.F.S charities around the globe all have their own priorities and more often than not, educating professionals is not one of them. Patient advocacy, raising research funding or highlighting the amazing work they do for the M.E/C.F.S community usually takes priority. Most M.E charity websites do not tell its visitors what M.E/C.F.S is or the history of the condition (The M.E Association has a very good explanation though). You will have to ‘Google’ for weeks, if not months, to find enough reliable information to feel confident that you understand the condition well enough to be able to fully support a patient under your duty of care. Even then, how will you know that the information you’ve found is trustworthy? There are so many conflicting opinions surrounding M.E/C.F.S around the globe it is extremely difficult to get a clear idea of the true nature of the condition.
One of our volunteers had an in-depth conversation with a potential customer this week and it brought the ‘just Google it’ issue to our attention. The customer said they didn’t need to do our training because they could ‘just Google it’. Our volunteer did an excellent job of explaining why ‘Googling’ simply isn’t appropriate for such a complicated issue and the customer admitted that they had not realised M.E/C.F.S was a complex condition. Maybe Googling M.E/C.F.S is why the community is not progressing in terms of the support it receives, a few Google searches are inadequate.
Stripy Lightbulb’s courses contain all the information you’ll need for your specific sector to be able to support patients. We have done the hard work for you. All relevant and fully researched information is in one place. Our CPD accredited courses offer a very good overview of the condition, identify existing problems for patients within your sector, and we offer suggestions as to what adjustments could be made within your working environment.
Stripy Lightbulb came to fruition because Sally realised that the huge gap in knowledge about the condition within the education, healthcare, and business sectors was causing additional harm to patients.
There is a clear need for our training.
Get ahead of the curve, buy your ‘seat’ now.