Healthcare remains the top topic of interest for Internet users and is the subject of 40 percent of all formal search engine searches. The patients are looking because they are finding information they can't find anywhere else or don't have the time to search for otherwise. What they aren't getting from doctors, clinics, journals, or books, they are getting online. Only recently have patients had information at their fingertips that once would have been impossible to attain. They are coming armed with knowledge.
Some physicians are thrilled, but many are skeptical and hesitant.
After all, a by-product of information is misinformation. One source determined that 7 percent of health-related information gleaned off of the Internet is in fact misinformation. Grant names privacy and confidentiality as other concerns. The lack of regulation has somewhat discombobulated the system and shaken things up pretty badly. Whether good information or bad, physicians are being forced to address the Internet as a medium for practicing medicine.