Patient education and the Internet: do patients want us to provide them with medical web sites to learn more about their medical problems?

This study was performed to assess inner city Emergency Department (ED) patients' use of the Internet to obtain medical information, and patients' interest in being provided medical links by their ED physician to learn more about their medical condition. A convenience sample of inner city ED patients were surveyed regarding computer/Internet access, past searches for medical information, and whether they desired medical links provided with discharge paperwork. Of 328 patients completing the survey, 178 (54%) had computers, whereas 150 (46%) had access to the Internet. Seventy-nine (24%) had previously used the World Wide Web (WWW) to obtain medical information, and 26 (33%) of these reported difficulty in obtaining useful information. One hundred ninety-two (59%) were interested or very interested in being provided links to medical sites. Patients more likely to want medical links were younger, college educated, and in higher salary ranges. There was no difference in desire to be provided links based on number of past medical problems or duration of symptoms. In conclusion, almost half the inner city ED patients in this survey have Internet access and over half were interested in being provided quality medical links as a part of their discharge paperwork.