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Helping Seniors Capture the Power of the Internet

Patients and their families are taking on more responsibility for their health care. Self monitoring, paying attention to signals from their bodies, and seeking information about medical conditions has made the Internet today’s most popular medium for health research. The availability of information on the Internet enhances a patient’s sense of autonomy, and owning a computer or at least having access to one, enhances independence. On the Internet, patients or their families can chat with supportive individuals and groupseven clinicians. It is available at any time, not just when the patient is in the doctor’s office. Sometimes problems with the doctor-patient relationship lead patients to seek information from the Internet. Susan Fisher, who studied female patients in a small Southeastern city, reported that women are not always comfortable with advice received from male doctors.1 Some patients are skeptical of their physician’s willingness to share their knowledge, especially if patients find more information online than their doctors seem willing to convey. At the same time, Internet resources have strengthened the doctor-patient relationship when online support groups and information validate treatment. If clinicians, with the assistance of medical librarians, could refer patients to reliable, useful, patient-oriented Internet resources, physicians would not have to fear for their patients’ safety as they rush onto the Information Highway. Information to assist consumer health care decision-making is available on thousands of health care oriented sites. Some are sponsored by state and federal governments, non-profit and for profit health care organizations, the