Should Doctors Want Their Patients To Use The Web To Stay Informed?

Recently, I’ve had an interview with a national newspaper and the woman who performed the interview told me she was surprised that I seemed to be the first doctor in her life who was happy about patients using the internet. Well, she surprised me with this statement as I’ve never thought about that before. But she must be right. There are many doctors who get upset when they find out the patient tried to find information online. They are frustrated as they don’t even know how to use these online tools and have no idea how to help the patients in this perspective.

Myself, I’m pretty much happy about it. I love to hear patients

  • use mobile apps to track their health;
  • use Webicina.com and Honcode for assessing quality online;
  • write blogs about their health management
  • or discuss their problems in online patient communities.

I believe such patients can become informed and really equal partners in the treatment.

Dear e-patients, please keep on going and using the web efficiently.

Dear doctors, at least know more about the internet-related issues and be able to answer the specific questions of e-patients.

*This blog post was originally published at ScienceRoll*


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