E-Patient

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e-Patients (also known as Internet Patient, or Internet-savvy Patient) are health consumers who use the Internet to gather information about a medical condition of particular interest to them. The term encompasses both those who seek online guidance for their own ailments and the friends and family members (e-Caregivers) who go online on their behalf. e-Patients report two effects of their online health research: "better health information and services, and different (but not always better) relationships with their doctors."[citation needed]

e-patients are increasingly active in their care and are demonstrating the power of the Participatory Medicine model of care. They are equipped, enabled, empowered, engaged, equals, emancipated and experts.[citation needed]

  • Equipped with the skills to manage their own condition.
  • Enabled to make choices about self-care and those choices are respected.
  • Empowered
  • Engaged patients are engaged in their own care
  • Equals in their partnerships with the various physicians involved in their care
  • Emancipated
  • Expert patients can improve their self-rated health status, cope better with fatigue and other generic features of chronic disease such as role limitation, and reduce disability and their dependence on hospital care.[citation needed]

Based on the current state of knowledge on the impact of e-Patients on the healthcare system and the quality of care received:

  • A growing number of people say the internet has played a crucial or important role as they helped another person cope with a major illness. [1][2]
  • Since the advent of the Internet, many clinicians have underestimated the benefits and overestimated the risks of online health resources for patients.[3][4]
  • Medical online support groups have become an important healthcare resource.[citation needed]
  • The net friendliness of clinicians and provider organizations—as rated by the e-patients they serve—is becoming an important new aspect of healthcare quality.[citation needed]
  • This is one the most important cultural medical revolution of the past century, mediated and driven by technology.[citation needed]
  • The impact of the e-Patient cannot be fully understood and appreciated in the context of pre-internet medical constructs.[citation needed] Research must combine expertise from specialties that are not used to work together.

The proportion of e-Patients in selected patient populations seem to be highest in the US and Canada.[citation needed] European countries seem to lag.[citation needed]

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ Finding Answers Online in Sickness and in Health, 5/2/2006, Pew Internet.
  2. ^ The Impact of the Internet on Cancer Outcomes, G. Eysenbach, CA Cancer J Clin 2003; 53:356 doi: 10.3322/canjclin.53.6.356
  3. ^ Are Physicians Ready for Patients With Internet-Based Health Information? J Med Internet Res 2006;8(3):e22; doi:10.2196/jmir.8.3.e22
  4. ^ Analysis of Cases of Harm Associated With Use of Health Information on the Internet, JAMA. 2002;287:2869-2871

[edit] External links