Used in conjunction with regular office visits, the internet has the potential to offer significant advantages to both health-care professionals and patients. Accurate information online can help inform patients and lead to better decision-making by patients and physicians. The communication capabilities of the internet, including email and the ability to share documents easily and quickly, can help patients get answers from a doctor's office more quickly and efficiently.
Providing Context to Online Information
Many patients go online to research symptoms and conditions before or after contacting their personal physicians. While there are a number of reputable health-related sites, there are also numerous personal blog sites, pharmaceutical distribution sites and other sites that provide information of questionable value. Health-care providers who are familiar with the internet can help their patients understand the value of various online-information sources.
Becoming More Efficient
Health-care providers who communicate with their patients through email can be more efficient in addressing a patient's questions or concerns. Office visits are expensive and can involve a substantial waiting period. Many routine questions and concerns can be handled with an email responses along with regular office visits. Health-care professionals may be able to free up time for more serious medical cases, and patients may be able to get a satisfactory answer or second opinion more quickly and easily.
Collaborating to Reach Better Decisions
In some cases, the internet can be used to facilitate better collaboration between health-care professionals and their patients. Multiple physicians treating the same patient could share medical records easily and securely over internet connections. Team-based care typically produces better outcomes than uncoordinated care by multiple physicians. In addition, patients could be kept informed of appointments, test results and treatment options. For example, results from a cholesterol test could be emailed to a patient along with suggested lifestyle changes and follow-up testing suggestions.
Better Access Through Telemedicine
The internet also facilitates the practice of medicine over great distances or telemedicine. This is especially important for those living in remote areas or those who may be housebound. For example, if a patient in a small rural town has the symptoms of a rare medical condition, a specialist located in a large urban area could review the patient's medical records online including X-rays, the family practitioner's notes and test results. Telemedicine is already in practice today, providing access to higher quality medical care to people in rural locations around the world.
The Basis for Long-Term Health Care Reform
The internet appears destined to play a large role in the future of health care. Electronic medical records are expected to reduce waste in today's health care system, improve quality of care and generate savings to fund government health-care proposals. These records will most likely be stored on servers that are not located in individual physician offices, requiring Internet communications to access the records. Before too long, using the internet in the delivery of health care is likely to be the norm, rather than the exception, for many health-care providers.
Not a Replacement for the Office Visit
While the internet can enhance the physician-patient relationship and provide advantages to both parties, email communications and online information can never replace a personal, face-to-face visit at the doctor's office. Regular check-ups are needed for physicians to observe subtle changes in behavior and to interpret changes in test results. There is no substitute for an annual physical and a knowledgeable physician.
