Tassone Peter, Georgalas Christos, Patel Nimesh N, Appleby Esther, Kotecha Bhik
Royal National Throat Nose and Ear Hospital, London, UK.
J Laryngol Otol. 2004 Jan;118(1):34-8. doi: 10.1258/002221504322731600.
The Internet has become a very important source of health information. We wanted to determine otolaryngology patients' access to, and use of, the Internet as a medical information resource, to identify factors that make patients more likely to use it, and to determine how useful they find this information. A questionnaire survey was completed by patients while waiting for their consultation in the out-patient department of the Royal National Throat Nose and Ear Hospital in London. Five hundred and thirty-five questionnaires were completed. Sixty-four per cent (344/535) reported having access to the Web. Of the 344 with access, 62 (18 per cent) had searched the Web for medical information prior to their consultation. Higher education (p <0.001) and age between 18 and 40 years (p = 0.001) correlated significantly with higher Internet use. Ninety-five per cent planned to use the Internet again. Approximately one out of five otolaryngology out-patients with Internet access reported having obtained medical information from the Web before their consultation. The majority found it helpful to some degree and were planning to use it again. As clinicians we should be aware of this use and the onus should be on ourselves to review these sites in order to guide our patients to sources of reliable and helpful medical information on the Internet.
互联网已成为健康信息的一个非常重要的来源。我们想要确定耳鼻喉科患者获取和使用互联网作为医疗信息资源的情况，识别使患者更有可能使用互联网的因素，并确定他们认为这些信息有多大用处。在伦敦皇家国立耳鼻喉医院门诊部，患者在等待会诊时完成了一项问卷调查。共完成了535份问卷。64%（344/535）的患者报告可以上网。在这344名可以上网的患者中，62名（18%）在会诊前曾在网上搜索过医疗信息。高等教育程度（p<0.001）和年龄在18至40岁之间（p = 0.001）与更高的互联网使用率显著相关。95%的患者计划再次使用互联网。在有互联网接入的耳鼻喉科门诊患者中，约五分之一报告在会诊前从网上获取过医疗信息。大多数患者觉得这些信息在某种程度上有帮助，并计划再次使用。作为临床医生，我们应该意识到这种使用情况，我们有责任审查这些网站，以便引导我们的患者获取互联网上可靠且有用的医疗信息来源。
