297115
Potential Influence of Internet Health Resources on Patients Presenting to the Emergency Department
OBJECTIVE-Determine rates of Internet use among ED patients, patients’ trust in Internet resources, whether patient made their physician aware of information they received from the Internet.
METHODS-We distributed a 20-question survey to consenting adult patients at the University of Utah ED during from December 2010-March 2012. Patients were eligible to participate if they spoke English, ≥18 years old, clinically stable, and deemed mentally competent. Patients were excluded if sent to the ED by their primary care physician (PCP), brought in by Emergency Medical Service (EMS), or accompanied by law enforcement personnel.
RESULTS-704 patients completed the survey during their ED visit; median age was 43.6 years and 58% female. Of the participants, 78.4% accessed the Internet specifically for health-related information, 49.3% reported accessing the Internet within the previous week for health information and 45.3% looked for information related specifically to their ED presentation. 77.1% of patients stated that they either somewhat or completely trusted the health information they received from the Internet; compared to 93.6% who either somewhat or completely trusted the information they received from the emergency physician but only 7.4% informed the emergency physician that they accessed the Internet for health-related concerns before coming to the ED.
CONCLUSION-A large percentage of ED patients use the Internet for healthcare informatics. Patients place high trust in the sources utilized, therefore physicians should discuss information received prior to their ED visit; consider distributing information to patients regarding reliable Internet health resources.
Learning Areas:
Communication and informaticsImplementation of health education strategies, interventions and programs
Planning of health education strategies, interventions, and programs
Learning Objectives:
Describe the demographics of ED patients accessing the internet
Develop an awareness of frequency of internet use among patients for health information and their perceived reliability
Determine modalities to increase communication between patients and providers regarding internet use and information accuracy
Keyword(s): Decision-Making, Media
Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I designed the study,oversaw data collection and wrote the abstract
Any relevant financial relationships? No
I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.