Internet use by primary care and hospital doctors: Perception of how it influences their relationships with patients

Objective: To compare Internet use among physicians working in primary health care and hospitals and their perception of the influence this has on patient-doctor relationships. Design: Observational descriptive study based on survey. Setting: 7 public hospitals (H) and 8 primary health care centres (PH) from Alicante, Madrid, Saragossa and Huesca. Participants: 685 physicians. 49.3% PH, 55.9% mate, mean age: 43.2 years. Main items: How and for what is the Internet used on duty, advantages and disadvantages of Internet for medical-patient relationships. Results: Hospital MDs spend more time on the Internet (p<0.001), take more advantage of education resources (p<0.001) and collaborate more frequently with specific web sites (p = 0.02). Both groups agree that the Internet leads to interaction with patients. Only 14% of the MDs had not received any questions regarding Internet information; 27.6% recommend websites to their patients; 30.8% considered that Internet use complicates medical-patient relationships. Its main advantage (42.2%) is support in getting to know the disease; 20.5% considers that it improves patient autonomy; 30.9% thinks that it undermines physician credibility. Conclusions: Hospital MDs use the Internet more intensively. Both groups have the same opinion on the advantages of the Web resources for medical-patient relationships. (C) 2008 Elsevier Espana, S.L. ALL rights reserved.