The internet is the cornerstone of modern day information gathering and this holds
true for medical information. Many use the internet for health-related information
and to make self-diagnoses, even though one survey found only 13% of these self-diagnoses
were accurate [
[1]
]. There is a wide variety of information and misinformation available on the internet.
Government and peer-reviewed sites are generally considered accurate, with WebMD.com being one of the most traveled websites [
[2]
]. A progressive involvement of digital media has become part of home life for elderly
Americans [
[3]
] and smartphones bridge the access gap for those in lower economic brackets. A recent
study suggested that 51% of emergency department (ED) patients had a smartphone and
60% of those had used it for seeking health information [
[4]
].To read this article in full you will need to make a payment
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References
- Health online 2013.in: Pew internet & American life project. Jan 15, 2013
- Top sites in all: all categories > health > conditions and diseases. Alexa, May 11, 2013 (Retrieved from)
- Older adults and internet use.in: Pew internet & American life project. Jun 6, 2012
- The prevalence and characteristics of emergency medicine patient use of new media.JMIR Mhealth Uhealth. 2015; 3e72
- Evaluation of symptom checkers for self-diagnosis and triage: audit study.BMJ. 2015; 351h3480
Article Info
Publication History
Published online: February 27, 2018
Accepted:
February 25,
2018
Received in revised form:
February 15,
2018
Received:
November 15,
2017
Identification
Copyright
© 2018 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
