Problems of Online Physician-Patient Communication: An Investigation of a WebHospital in Taiwan (original) (raw)
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The Patient-Physician Relationship in the Internet Age: Future Prospects and the Research Agenda
Journal of Medical Internet Research, 2001
In the "Internet Age," physicians and patients have unique technological resources available to improve the patient-physician relationship. How they both utilize online medical information will influence the course of their relationship and possibly influence health outcomes. The decision-making process may improve if efforts are made to share the burden of responsibility for knowledge. Further benefits may arise from physicians who assist patients in the information-gathering process. However, further research is necessary to understand these differences in the patient-physician relationship along with their corresponding effects on patient and physician satisfaction as well as clinical outcomes.
Patient education and …, 2009
Objective: Many patients use the Internet to obtain health-related information. It is assumed that healthrelated Internet information (HRII) will change the consultation practice of physicians. This article explores the strategies, benefits and difficulties from the patients' and physicians' perspective. Methods: Semi-structured interviews were conducted independently with 32 patients and 20 physicians. Data collection, processing and analysis followed the core principles of Grounded Theory. Results: Patients experienced difficulties in the interpretation of the personal relevance and the meaning of HRII. Therefore they relied on their physicians' interpretation and contextualisation of this information. Discussing patients' concerns and answering patients' questions were important elements of successful consultations with Internet-informed patients to achieve clarity, orientation and certainty. Discussing HRII with patients was appreciated by most of the physicians but misleading interpretations by patients and contrary views compared to physicians caused conflicts during consultations. Conclusion: HRII is a valuable source of knowledge for an increasing number of patients. Patients use the consultation to increase their understanding of health and illness. Determinants such as a patientcentred consultation and timely resources are decisive for a successful, empowering consultation with Internet-informed patients. Practical implications: If HRII is routinely integrated in the anamnestic interview as a new source of knowledge, the Internet can be used as a link between physicians' expertise and patient knowledge. The critical appraisal of HRII during the consultation is becoming a new field of work for physicians. ß
Communication model in Chinese online medical consultations: Insights and implications
Patient Education and Counseling, 2024
To comprehensively analyze and further enhance the established E4 communication model for online medical counseling in Chinese settings, by proposing the novel E5 model. Additionally, it aims to evaluate the performance of Chinese doctors in fulfilling the E5 model. Methods: Through thematic analysis and grounded theory of 500 online medical consultations in China, we developed the extended E5 model from the E4 model. We identified four dimensions of patient attitudes and behaviors using Stanford Topic Modeling Toolbox, then employed Chi-square analysis to investigate their influence on doctors' performance of E5 model. Results: Our study illustrates that the extended E5 model, with its operable strategies, accurately mirrors the nuanced dynamics of online medical counseling in China, significantly varying in doctors' execution in response to the four identified dimensions of patient attitudes and behaviors. Conclusion: The extended E5 model, coupled with insights into patient attitudes and behaviors, provides a comprehensive framework for understanding and enhancing communication in China's online healthcare context. Practice implications: The findings highlight the necessity for doctor training in the E5 model for effective online communication. Furthermore, fostering conducive relationship between patients and doctors could potentially boost doctors' E5 performance.
EFFECTS OF INTERNET IN PATIENT-DOCTOR COMMUNICATION
As known, each single innovation in technology effects human life widely. The internet, in particular, brought enormous changes in communication patterns and dimensions of people in Turkey. Also, the computer literacy rate has risen rapidly in all levels of the community within the recent decade. As a result of these developments, internet has become to offer a wide range communication ways for people to share their opinions, information, experiences etc. At the very beginning, internet was only an attraction point, but nowadays it is considered as a basic need or an unbreakable habit for all people. Furthermore, the fast changes of knowledge causes dysfunctions for the old knowledge. The active and conscious use of internet compensates this
Untangling the Web—The impact of Internet use on health care and the physician–patient relationship
Patient Education and Counseling, 2007
Objective: The use of Web (i.e. Internet)-derived health information within the health care encounter is rapidly increasing. In this article, an extensive review of the complex effects and sometimes contradictory roles of the Web in regard to health care delivery and the physician-patient relationship is presented. Methods: A review of relevant literature was conducted, with key points integrated into a physician guide for effective interaction with Webactivated patients. Results: An emerging consumerist model with ''triangulation'' of patient-Web-physician can be expected to significantly impact dynamics of the physician-patient relationship. Potential advantages of Web-acquired information include helping patients make informed health care choices (with potential to decrease health care disparities), shared decision-making with a collaborative, teamwork approach, more efficient use of clinical time, augmenting of physician-provided information, online support groups, and/or access to patients' own health information. Alternatively, factors such as misinformation due to highly variable quality of Web information, possible exacerbation of socioeconomic health disparities, and shifting of conventional notions of the physician-patient relationship (''traditional'' medical authority) present their own set of challenges for the health care provider. Conclusion: A tangible guide to the integration of patients' use of the Web within a medical practice is thus offered with recommended communication skills. Practice implications: The ''net-friendly'' clinician can be effective by engendering a genuine partnership with patients, thus contributing to quality health care. #
The Impact of Health Information on the Internet on the Physician-Patient Relationship
Archives of Internal Medicine, 2003
Background Use of the Internet for health information continues to grow rapidly, but its impact on health care is unclear. Concerns include whether patients' access to large volumes of information will improve their health; whether the variable quality of the information will have a deleterious effect; the effect on health disparities; and whether the physician-patient relationship will be improved as patients become more equal partners, or be damaged if physicians have difficulty adjusting to a new role.
Survey of Doctors' Experience of Patients Using the Internet
Journal of Medical Internet Research, 2002
BackgroundThere have been many studies showing the variable quality of Internet health information and it has often been assumed that patients will blindly follow this and frequently come to harm. There have also been reports of problems for doctors and health services following patient Internet use, but their frequency has not been quantified. However, there have been no large, rigorous surveys of the perceptions of Internet-aware doctors about the actual benefits and harms to their patients of using the Internet.ObjectiveTo describe Internet-literate doctors' experiences of their patients' use of the Internet and resulting benefits and problems.MethodsOnline survey to a group of 800 Web-using doctors (members of a UK medical Internet service provider, Medix) in September and October 2001.ResultsResponses were received from 748 (94%) doctors, including 375 general practitioners (50%). Respondents estimated that 1%-2% of their patients used the Internet for health information in the past month with no regional variation. Over two thirds of the doctors considered Internet health information to be usually (20%) or sometimes (48%) reliable; this was higher in those recently qualified. Twice as many reported patients experiencing benefits (85%; 95% confidence interval, 80%-90%) than problems (44%; 95% confidence interval, 37%-50%) from the Internet. Patients gaining actual physical benefits from Internet use were reported by 40% of respondents, while 8% reported physical harm. Patients' overall experiences with the Internet were judged excellent 1%, good 29%, neutral 62%, poor 9%, or bad <1%. Turning to the impact of patient Internet use on the doctors themselves, 13% reported no problems, 38% 1 problem, and 49% 2 or more problems. Conversely, 20% reported no benefits for themselves, 49% 1 benefit, and 21% 2 or more benefits.ConclusionsThese doctors reported patient benefits from Internet use much more often than harms, but there were more problems than benefits for the doctors themselves. Reported estimates of patient Internet usage rates were low. Overall, this survey suggests that patients are deriving considerable benefits from using the Internet and that some of the claimed risks seem to have been exaggerated.
Is doctor-patient relationship influenced by health online information?
Revista da Associação Médica Brasileira, 2018
SUMMARY OBJECTIVES To analyse the opinions and attitudes reported by medical specialists regarding online health information and their interference in the doctor-patient relationship. Methods A cross-sectional study developed between 2016 and 2017 in Recife-Pernambuco-Brazil, which used a questionnaire in person in a population of 183 specialists from the Instituto de Medicina Integral Prof. Fernando Figueira. The results were analysed through the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences. Obtained approval of the Ethics Committee under the voucher number 121004/2016. Results In the opinion of 85.2% of physicians, online health information has both positive and negative impacts on the physician-patient relationship. Faced with a questioning patient who claims to have researched information on the internet, 98.9% of the physicians said they would try to explain the reasons for their diagnosis and treatment. 59% already had a patient who modified the treatment recommended after seei...