The physician-patient relationship in an electronic environment: a regional snapshot.

Abstract

The widespread availability of medical information on the Internet and the impact of this on the physician-patient relationship was a significant development in health care in the 1990s. It has been estimated that more than 40% of searches on the Internet are for health-related information [1]. An estimated sixty million patients annually turn to the Internet, sometimes instead of a family physician, for health care information [2]. It is safe to say that the volume of health and medical information accessible to patients and physicians at the turn of the century far exceeds that anticipated by all sectors of health care. Without question, access to information on the Internet is having a profound effect on the practice of medicine. Patients now have access to information heretofore available only to health care professionals. Although data are not readily available, evidently, “many clinicians are finding themselves upstaged and ill prepared to cope with patients who bring along information downloaded from the Internet” [3]. With Web technology becoming increasingly pervasive, not knowing the information-seeking patterns of patients puts physicians at a distinct disadvantage [4].