Türkiye’de Hastaların İnternette Tıbbi Enformasyon Arama Davranışlarının Doktor-Hasta İletişimine Etkileri

Abstract

The Impact of Patients’ Medical Information Seeking Behaviours on the Internet on Doctor-Patient Communication in TurkeyThe widespread use and high penetration rates of internet, the development of digital channels, free and easy availability of information have an impact on the process of communication in the field of health. In general, patients began to seek some medical information in personal web-sites of physicians, hospital websites, portals, wikis, blogs or social networks in any case of illness or symptoms.This study aims to define, through a descriptive analysis, the impact and the causes of patients' medical information research behaviours on the internet on doctor-patient communication, according to the results of the researches conducted in Turkey and in some other countries.Our findings on the medical information research behaviours of Turkish patients on the internet are evaluated in two different groups as “the patients with acute illnesses” and “the patients with chronic illnesses”. The patients with acute problems look up their symptoms on the internet prior to visit the doctor, and also they look up their diagnosis following the doctor’s consultation. As for “the patients with chronic illnesses”, they prefer to look up online in order to know their illnesses and to gather information about its current treatment methods.