BMJ  2005;331:625-627 (17 September), doi:10.1136/bmj.331.7517.625

Clinical review

ABC of health informatics

Is a consultation needed?

University of Dundee.

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

Introduction

People with health concerns no longer have to become patients by consulting a health professional. Electronic health (eHealth) tools provide access to many resources that may satisfy their requirements. This article describes ways that patients can investigate health issues before, or instead of, a consultation.

Ms Amulya Patel is a 48 year old accountant whose mother has recently been diagnosed with breast cancer. Ms Patel wonders about her own level of risk, and uses the internet to search for patient resources

As a professional, Ms Patel (see box opposite) can access health resources on the internet at work and at home. She may subscribe to a mobile internet service provider through her telephone or palmtop computer. Internet access is not restricted to affluent people in western societies. In the United Kingdom, the 2003 national statistics omnibus survey showed that 48% of households have home internet access, and . . . [Full text of this article]

Using a search engine

Patient orientated health portals

Direct access to medical literature

Mediated access to medical literature

Teleconsultation

Summary

CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    StumbleUpon    Technorati    What's this?

Relevant Articles

How computers can help to share understanding with patients

Frank Sullivan and Jeremy C Wyatt
BMJ 2005 331: 892-894. [Extract] [Full Text] [PDF]

How the internet affects patients' experience of cancer: a qualitative study

Sue Ziebland, Alison Chapple, Carol Dumelow, Julie Evans, Suman Prinjha, and Linda Rozmovits
BMJ 2004 328: 564. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Integrating service development with evaluation in telehealthcare: an ethnographic study

Tracy Finch, Carl May, Frances Mair, Maggie Mort, and Linda Gask
BMJ 2003 327: 1205-1209. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Examination of instruments used to rate quality of health information on the internet: chronicle of a voyage with an unclear destination

Anna Gagliardi and Alejandro R Jadad
BMJ 2002 324: 569-573. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Breast cancer on the world wide web: cross sectional survey of quality of information and popularity of websites

Funda Meric, Elmer V Bernstam, Nadeem Q Mirza, Kelly K Hunt, Frederick C Ames, Merrick I Ross, Henry M Kuerer, Raphael E Pollock, Mark A Musen, and S Eva Singletary
BMJ 2002 324: 577-581. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

This article has been cited by other articles:

• Sullivan, F., Wyatt, J. C (2005). How computers can help to share understanding with patients. BMJ 331: 892-894 [Full text]  

Online poll

Find out more on doc2doc >>