Internet consultation in medicine studies of a text-based Ask the doctor service

Sammanfattning: The overall aim of this thesis was to cast light on the new phenomenon of Internet-based medical consultation. This was approached by studies of the use of an Ask the doctor service, by a web survey to the users who sent enquiries to the service, and by a questionnaire to the answering physicians of their respective expericence of the service.Written communication is becoming increasingly important, not only for communication between individuals outwith health care (e.g. by email, SMS and instant messaging), but also between doctors and patients. There is an ongoing shift in the way individuals look for medical information with an increasing number going first to the Internet berfore talking with their physicians. Also, there is an increasing interest from patients in accessing Internet-based services, including text-based consultations with doctors. These consultations can be part of the regular communication between a patient and his/her doctor or be carried out without any previous relationship. Our studies of the latter consultation type emanate from the free of charge Ask the doctor service at a Swedish public health web portal, Infomedica, financed by health authorities. At the Ask the doctor service, the communication has been merely text-based and the individual using the consultation service (here called the enquirer) might have been anonymous.We followed the development of the first four years use of the service (38 217 enquiries), finding that the typical enquirer was a woman aged 21-60 years. Three quarters of the enquirers were women, thus exceeding the gender difference seen in regular health care. The service was used all times of the day and night, seven days a week, and it was most used in densely populated areas as defined from postal codes.The enquiries submitted to the service included a broad variety of medical issues. Most enquirers asked on their own behalf. Almost half of the enquiries concerned a matter not previously evaluated by a medical professional. Only a few were frequent enquirers. The service was used e.g. for a primary evaluation of a medical problem, for getting more information on a medical issue under treatment, and for a second opinion. The most common reasons for turning to a doctor on the Internet were convenience, wish for anonymity and that doctors were experinced too busy. In free text a considerable number of participants expressed discontent and communication problems with a previous doctor as a reason to turn to the Ask the doctor service. Many participants expressed a view of the service as a complement to regular health care, and the majority were satisfied with the answer. Nearly half of the participants in the web survey stated that they received sufficient information in their answer and that they would not pursue their question further.The family physicians answering the enquiries at the Ask the doctor service were stimulated and challenged by the new task, in spite of the limitations caused by the lack of personal meetings and physical examinations. The opportunity to reflect on the answer before replying was appreciated, and the task was regarded as having a high educational value for themselves.The Internet not only allows easy access to medical information but also to medical consultation – to date mostly text-based. It is probable that in the near future an increasing number of doctors will adopt text-based communication via the Internet to be a natural part of their communication with patients. Therefore, training in text-based communication and carrying out Internet consultations should be integrated into the curricula of medical schools and of continuous professional development. Ethical guidelines should be established.