Google Searches in the 7 days prior to an emergency department visit
| Query subject | Example search | # of participants where search occurred at least once. n=86 | Frequency of query n=3978 |
| n (%) | n (%) | ||
| Entertainment | ‘Bon iver concert’ ‘xbox one’ | 58 (67) | 726 (18) |
| Directions to non-clinical locations | Current location ->non-clinical location | 55 (64) | 449 (11) |
| Retail (online shopping, physical location of stores) | ‘Amazon’ ‘Walmart’ | 47 (55) | 279 (7) |
| Information about hospital/care | ‘Penn Medicine ER’ ‘medical tower philly’ | 46 (53) | 240 (6) |
| Symptoms and disease info | ‘What is diabetes’ ‘cramping 12 weeks agony’ | 48 (56) | 223 (6) |
| Unrelated/unintelligible | ‘asj’ ‘344’ | 42 (49) | 198 (5) |
| Social media | ‘Facebook’ | 39 (45) | 167 (4) |
| Food/drink | ‘How long to cook pizza’ | 44 (51) | 153 (4) |
| Financial questions | ‘How to reach a person at the irs’ | 35 (41) | 116 (3) |
| Treatment and disease management | ‘cure food poisoning’ ‘nosebleed treatment’ | 20 (23) | 94 (2) |
| Pornographic materials | ‘Pornhub’ ‘xvideos’ | 16 (19) | 78 (2) |
| Legal questions | ‘What are the traffic laws if there is no stop sign’ | 18 (21) | 77 (2) |
| Drug use | ‘How many mgs of Advil to take’ ‘Vicoden vs percocet ’ | 20 (23) | 75 (2) |
| Diet/exercise | ‘Is it possible to lose 80lbs in a year’ ‘crossfit gym’ | 11 (13) | 41 (1) |
| Medical accessories | ‘Syringe cvs’ ‘haemorrhoid pillows’ | 11 (13) | 19 (0) |
| Other | ‘Why wont hot water heater stay lit’ | 80 (93) | 1043 (31) |