Where in the World Wide Web Are the Doctors?

The Internet isn't used by orthopedic doctors to teach patients as much as it could be. That's the conclusion made by researchers at the University of Pennsylvania. They carried out a study on Internet use among doctors.

The purpose of this study was to look at websites and compare information posted by private practice versus academic sources. The specific topic was orthopedic patient education.

Information was gathered on 154 websites related to orthopedic surgery. All academic sites were sponsored by orthopedic departments. These departments were approved by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME). Researchers rated the sites on the following criteria:

When was the web site last updated?

They found more use of websites to give patients information by private practice doctors compared to academic sources. Even so, this study shows that most orthopedic doctors don't use the Internet as a resource for patient education.

The authors suggest several reasons for the slow pace doctors are taking in joining the information highway. Factors include concerns about security and privacy, liability, and reliability.

It's expected that doctors will use the Internet more as patients come to rely on it. In some places patients can make appointments and get directions to the doctor's office on line. They can even email the doctor. We may expect to see more of this in the future, along with more complete on-line patient education.

References: Tamara D. Rozental, MD et al. Patient Education Through the Internet. In Clinical Orthopaedics and Related Research. April 2004. Vol. 421. Pp. 50-53.

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