Patients turn to online health info, but still trust their doctor first
There is a growing volume of health related information available online, making it easier for individuals to seek out advice and information resources on their own in addition to consulting a physician or other medical professional.
The US National Cancer Institute recently published the results of the first Health Information National Trends Survey (HINTS), which polled 6,369 adults about how they get information about health care and cancer treatment.
The results showed that 63.0 percent of respondents had ever used the Internet. Of these, 63.7 percent had looked there for some type of health or medical information. Other health-related Internet activities, such as purchasing medication, communicating with physicians, or participating in an online support group, were taken advantage of by less than 10 percent of users.
The authors report that 62.4 percent of respondents said that they trusted physicians “a lot” for cancer information, compared with 23.9 percent for the Internet.
The investigators plan to repeat the survey every two years to track the changes in patient behavior over time.
Links:
- Patients trust docs, but often use the internet (Yahoo / Reuters, December 12, 2005)
- Trust and Sources of Medical Information,
Bradford W. Hesse, PhD, David E. Nelson, MD, MPH, Gary L. Kreps, PhD, Robert T Croyle, PhD, Neeraj K. Arora, PhD, Barbara K. Rimer, PhD, Kasisomayajula Viswanath, PhD, Archives of Internal Medicine, Vol. 165, No. 22, December 12/26, 2005.
