The Internet as a potential source of information about radiological procedures for patients.

The purposes of this study were to determine what percentage of patients in a typical radiology outpatient setting own or have access to a computer with internet capabilities and how many of these patients would find an educational radiology website useful. During a 3-month period, surveys were given to all adult outpatients undergoing computed tomography. The survey asked 4 questions: (1) Do you own a computer?, (2) If you own a computer, does it have Internet access?, (3) If you do not own a computer, do you have access to a computer with Internet capabilities?, and (4) If we provide helpful information regarding preparation for and the conduct of various radiological procedures on the Internet, would you use it? Four hundred surveys were collected. Two hundred one of the respondents (50.3%) owned a computer; 189 of the 201 (94.0%) had Internet access on their computer or had access to another computer with Internet capabilities. One hundred ninety-nine of the 400 respondents (49.8%) did not own a computer, 57 of these (28.6%) had access to a computer and the Internet. Of the 246 of those with Internet access, 205 (83.3%) indicated that they would use a website that provided helpful information regarding radiological examinations. The Internet is an excellent resource for educational information for patients about various radiological procedures. This study showed that 61.5% of patients had access to the Internet, and 83.3% of these would use such a site. It is likely that these numbers will increase with the rapid growth of the Internet and the steadily increasing number of homes with computers.