HealthDay recently published a fascinating article that shows how people are now going to the Internet first - and then to their physician. They site an article published March 4 in the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM), where in a survey of nearly 16,000 people over a span of seven years, they discovered:
- People's trust in physicians has increased with the ascent of the Internet, while their trust in Internet information has declined slightly over time.
- Simultaneously, their trust in other sources of health information such as television has plummeted.
- By a large margin, people take their health questions to the Internet first, performing their own research. Then they take that information to their doctor for discussion.
- Increasing numbers of people are using e-mail to communicate with their physicians directly.
The verdict? The use of the Internet has become the “go to place” for specific types of information, but ultimately people still want to meet with their doctor.
Click here to the full HealthDay article: "People Still Trust Their Doctors Rather Than the Internet."
