Surveys, when designed appropriately, are a fantastic tool for getting feedback. In application development projects, this feedback can be used to drive anything from interface design to application training preferences. Surveys can also be used to determine the next logical project or initiative on which to embark.
I recently conducted a survey to gauge whether people who go on the Internet to research health information visit their doctors less or more. I also wanted to assess respondents' perceptions of the validity of the Internet as a tool in the provision of health care. This included respondents' perception of the accuracy of the information they found as well as their level of understanding of the information they found.
My #HITsm colleagues have been asking me for weeks to post the results. Well here they are – and they’re pretty interesting.
My #HITsm colleagues have been asking me for weeks to post the results. Well here they are – and they’re pretty interesting.
I started with an initial screening question asking respondents if they have visited the Internet within the past 12 months to look up health information for themselves or someone else. If the respondent answered “No” to this question, he or she was disqualified from completing the remainder of the survey.
For those respondents that answered “Yes,” they went on to complete a series of nine multiple choice questions. (For a list of the questions, please send me an email.)
The target population consisted of people who were accustomed to using the Internet for browsing or searching for content. The sample consisted of 89 respondents. The respondents were highly educated, with 88 percent holding an associates degree or higher. 76 percent of respondents fell into the 20-year to 40-year age range. Finally, 74 percent of the respondents were female and 26 percent were male.
66.7 percent of respondents, when asked what type of information they were looking for on the Internet, said that they were looking up symptoms (FIG 1).
When asked if they made an appointment with a medical professional as a result of the information they found online, 63.1 percent of respondents replied “No” (FIG 2).
FIG 2
Based on these results, can we assume that people are using the Internet to self-diagnose? Are they subsequently deciding to not visit a medical professional after they conduct their online research? I conducted qualitative interviews with a number of people in this target population in order to attempt to answer these questions. One of my respondents, a mother of a 16 month old, said that she knew her child had a sinus infection based on the information she found online. When asked if she decided to make an appointment for her child to see a pediatrician as a result of this information, she responded that she already made the appointment prior to conducting her research online.
Based on these results and my qualitative interviews, we can reason that when people research health information online, they have already decided whether or not they are going to make an appointment with their doctor.
So why are people going online if they have already made this decision? The answer is clear; People go online to gather information in preparation for their upcoming appointment. These days, health care consumers are more involved in their health care. This population is proactive and efficient. They know that they have very little time with doctors during a visit. In order to make the most of this time, they go in prepared with information and questions and they expect to leave with answers.
Research like this is being used to drive public policy surrounding health care. This is nowhere more evident than in the criteria outlined in the Meaningful Use Program currently underway in our country.
The Regional Primary Care Coalition (RPCC) defines the Meaningful Use Program as “reimbursement incentives for medical professionals and hospitals that become compliant in the use of certified electronic health record (EHR) technology” (RegionalPrimaryCare.org, 2012). In stage one of the Program, one of the 10 measures listed in the Meaningful Use Menu states that providers must use EHR technology to provide patients with education resources that is specific to their diagnosis or state. Stage two of the Program takes this measure one step further by stating that providers must ensure that five percent of their patients access health information online. The criterion further states that the patients must take appropriate action based on this information.
We know that patients are going online to research health information. Now, doctors are required to make sure that their patients are accessing this information. How can we ensure that the Internet is providing accurate information in a way that patients can understand? In the next post in this 2 part series, I will review the survey respondents’ understanding of the health information they found online as well as their perception of the accuracy of this information in an attempt to answer this question.
