Effect of Internet use on patient's surgical outcomes.

The Internet is an increasingly popular source of health care information, while 85% of physicians have experienced a patient bringing Internet information to a visit. Many physicians seem to be neutral toward inappropriate or incorrect information gathered by patients. To explore the impact of Internet use on surgical outcome and patients' overall satisfaction with the repair of inguinal hernia, patients presenting for hernia consult were given three preselected Internet sites and told to read up on the topic before the first surgical visit. 79.4% of the Internet group reported a very good to excellent postoperative level of satisfaction compared to 45.5% of the control group. When asked whether their expectations were met throughout the entire process, 74% of the Internet group reported "very much so" compared to 30% of the control group. The data encourage us to recommend that physicians review Internet health-related sites and make directed site referrals to their patients.