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Coping with Internet Information Overload

May 24, 2001

The results of two somewhat conflicting surveys on Internet healthcare information have just been released. In the first, at team of RAND Corporation researchers concluded that while the quantity of medical information available on the Internet is substantial, the quality is often inconsistent and difficult to understand.

Yet in an American Medical Association (AMA) survey evaluating physician use of the Internet, AMA researchers found that doctors themselves have become increasingly dependent on that same information.

In a study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, Dr. Gretchen Berland of the RAND Corporation and colleagues wrote that the quality of healthcare information available on the Internet is inconsistent at best—and often overwhelming for the general public.

The researchers evaluated Internet sites providing information on breast cancer, childhood asthma, depression and obesity. Using a scale that assessed completeness and accuracy, the study found that less than half of the top health-information sites gave consistently high-quality information in a comprehensible manner. Regarding specific diseases, the report said that only 63 percent of the breast cancer sites provided acceptable information; 36 percent of the asthma sites; 44 percent of the depression sites; and 37 percent of the obesity sites.

The study also found that consumers face trouble simply finding helpful sites through search engines. And when they do, the reading comprehension level is often well above that of a typical patient—making much of the information overwhelming, if not unintelligible.

In marked contrast, new findings from the "2001 AMA Study on Physicians’ Use of the World Wide Web" found that the perception by physicians themselves of the Internet as a resource was increasingly positive.

A team of AMA researchers interviewed 1,001 physicians in the U.S. between June and September 2000. They found that the percentage of physicians actually using the Internet has increased dramatically from 20 percent in 1997 to 70 percent in 2000.

Importantly, the percentage of physicians who consider the Web to be a useful source for patient education has increased from 25 percent in 1997 to 39 percent last year. Similarly, two-thirds of doctors now believe that Internet news and information has become an important component of patient care—up from 59 percent in 1997.

For the first time, the AMA study examined electronic communications between patients and physicians. The study found that 25 percent of physicians now use e-mail to communicate with patients. Slightly more than a quarter of physicians now have their own web sites.

SOURCES:

Journal of the American Medical Association, May 23/30, 2001; 285:2612-2621

The American Medical Association (http://www.ama-assn.org)

"2001 AMA Study on Physicians’ Use of the World Wide Web," American Medical Association, May 2001

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