Related Articles

Background

Use of the Internet for health purposes is steadily increasing in Europe, while the eHealth market is still a niche. Online communication between doctor and patient is one aspect of eHealth with potentially great impact on the use of health systems, patient-doctor roles and relations and individuals’ health. Monitoring and understanding practices, trends, and expectations in this area is important, as it may bring invaluable knowledge to all stakeholders, in the Health 2.0 era.

Objective

Our two main goals were: (1) to investigate use of the Internet and changes in expectations about future use for particular aspects of communication with a known doctor (obtaining a prescription, scheduling an appointment, or asking a particular health question), and (2) to investigate how important the provision of email and Web services to communicate with the physician is when choosing a new doctor for a first time face-to-face appointment. The data come from the second survey of the eHealth Trends study, which addressed trends and perspectives of health-related Internet use in Europe. This study builds on previous work that established levels of generic use of the Internet for self-help activities, ordering medicine or other health products, interacting with a Web doctor/unknown health professional, and communicating with a family doctor or other known health professional.

Methods

A representative sample of citizens from seven European countries was surveyed (n = 7022) in April and May of 2007 through computer-assisted telephone interviews (CATI). Respondents were questioned about their use of the Internet to obtain a prescription, schedule an appointment, or ask a health professional about a particular health question. They were also asked what their expectations were regarding future use of the Internet for health-related matters. In a more pragmatic approach to the subject, they were asked about the perceived importance when choosing a new doctor of the possibility of using email and the Web to communicate with that physician. Logistic regression analysis was used to draw the profiles of users of related eHealth services in Europe among the population in general and in the subgroup of those who use the Internet for health-related matters. Changes from 2005 to 2007 were computed using data from the first eHealth Trends survey (October and November 2005, n = 7934).

Results

In 2007, an estimated 1.8% (95% confidence interval [CI], 1.5 - 2.1) of the population in these countries had used the Internet to request or renew a prescription; 3.2% (95% CI 2.8 - 3.6) had used the Internet to schedule an appointment; and 2.5% (95% CI 2.2 - 2.9) had used the Internet to ask a particular health question. This represents estimated increases of 0.9% (95% CI 0.5 - 1.3), 1.7% (95% CI 1.2 - 2.2), and 1.4% (95% CI 0.9 - 1.8). An estimated 18.0% (95% CI 17.1 - 18.9) of the populations of these countries expected that in the near future they would have consultations with health professionals online, and 25.4% (95% CI 24.4 - 26.3) expected that in the near future they would be able to schedule an appointment online. Among those using the Internet for health-related purposes, on average more than 4 in 10 people considered the provision of these eHealth services to be important when choosing a new doctor.

Conclusions

Use of the Internet to communicate with a known health professional is still rare in Europe. Legal context, health policy issues, and technical conditions prevailing in different countries might be playing a major role in the situation. Interest in associated eHealth services is high among citizens and likely to increase.

Aim

To identify users’ reasons to look for physician consultation on the internet instead of visiting a physician and to explore their general characteristics, motivation, and satisfaction with internet medical consultation service ‘Your Questions.’

Methods

Users of a free internet medical consultation service ‘Your Questions’ (www.plivazdravlje.hr) were invited to participate in a web-based survey designed to explore their general characteristics (age, sex, etc), reasons for using the service, the nature of their health problem or question, and their satisfaction with the service. Respondents were divided into two groups: users who consulted an internet physician only (Group I) and users who used internet consulting before or after visiting a physician (Group II).

Results

The response rate was 38% (1036/2747), with 79% female respondents. A fifth of the respondents (21%) consulted an internet physician only (Group I). Multivariate analysis revealed that the respondents in Group I were younger (median 24 vs 28 years in Group II), more interested into questions about pregnancy (odds ratio [OR], 1.984; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.203-3.272), more often embarrassed to talk to a physician in person (OR, 1.828; 95% CI, 1.119-2.989), and more motivated to protect their privacy (OR, 1.727; 95% CI, 1.252-2.380). They also had greater satisfaction with the service (77% vs 60%, P < 0.001).

Conclusion

The factors associated with the use of internet-based medical consultation services were younger age, need for privacy protection, avoidance of embarrassment at the physician’s office, and having a question related to pregnancy. This reveals the internet medical consultation service as a useful health promotion supplement that is particularly applicable for the population of young adults.

Background

There have been many studies showing the variable quality of Internet health information and it has often been assumed that patients will blindly follow this and frequently come to harm. There have also been reports of problems for doctors and health services following patient Internet use, but their frequency has not been quantified. However, there have been no large, rigorous surveys of the perceptions of Internet-aware doctors about the actual benefits and harms to their patients of using the Internet.

Objective

To describe Internet-literate doctors' experiences of their patients' use of the Internet and resulting benefits and problems.

Methods

Online survey to a group of 800 Web-using doctors (members of a UK medical Internet service provider, Medix) in September and October 2001.

Results

Responses were received from 748 (94%) doctors, including 375 general practitioners (50%). Respondents estimated that 1%-2% of their patients used the Internet for health information in the past month with no regional variation. Over two thirds of the doctors considered Internet health information to be usually (20%) or sometimes (48%) reliable; this was higher in those recently qualified. Twice as many reported patients experiencing benefits (85%; 95% confidence interval, 80%-90%) than problems (44%; 95% confidence interval, 37%-50%) from the Internet. Patients gaining actual physical benefits from Internet use were reported by 40% of respondents, while 8% reported physical harm. Patients' overall experiences with the Internet were judged excellent 1%, good 29%, neutral 62%, poor 9%, or bad <1%. Turning to the impact of patient Internet use on the doctors themselves, 13% reported no problems, 38% 1 problem, and 49% 2 or more problems. Conversely, 20% reported no benefits for themselves, 49% 1 benefit, and 21% 2 or more benefits.

Conclusions

These doctors reported patient benefits from Internet use much more often than harms, but there were more problems than benefits for the doctors themselves. Reported estimates of patient Internet usage rates were low. Overall, this survey suggests that patients are deriving considerable benefits from using the Internet and that some of the claimed risks seem to have been exaggerated.

Background

Patients increasingly use health portals and Web-based expert forums (ask-the-doctor services), but little is known about the specific needs of Internet users visiting such websites, the nature of their requests, or how satisfied they are with Internet health experts.

Objective

The aim of this study was to analyze the information requests of (mostly female) patients visiting an Internet expert forum on involuntary childlessness and their satisfaction with the experts' feedback.

Methods

We posted an electronic questionnaire on a website hosting an expert forum on involuntary childlessness. The questionnaire was “activated” whenever a visitor sent a question or request to the expert forum. The survey focused on the reasons for visiting the expert forum and whether the visitors were satisfied with the experts' answers to previously posted questions. The free-text questions of visitors who answered the survey were analyzed using Atlas-ti, a software program for qualitative data analysis.

Results

Over a period of 6 months, 513 out of 610 visitors (84%) answered the questionnaire. The majority of respondents (65.5%) expected general information about involuntary childlessness, conception, or an evaluation of drugs. Others were concerned about their actual treatment (40.6%) and therapeutic options (28.8%). Out of 225 respondents who had previously contacted the forum, 223 had received an answer, and 123 (55.2%) were satisfied with the experts' answers. About half (105/223) of those users who had previously received an answer from the expert forum stated that they had discussed it with their own doctor. More of these users were satisfied with their subsequent care in fertility clinics than users who did not talk to their doctor about their Internet activities (93.9% vs 76.1%; P = .015 ). According to the qualitative analysis, many requests (n = 194) were more or less trivial, especially those for information on basic aspects of reproduction. More than one-third of visitors (n = 199) sent detailed results of diagnostic tests and asked for a first or second opinion. Requests to the expert forum were also sent in order to obtain emotional support (17%) or to complain about a doctor (15%).

Conclusions

Visitors who sent their laboratory findings to receive a thorough evaluation or a second opinion had a good command of the opportunities that an expert forum offers. One important expectation of the forum was emotional support, indicating psychological needs that were not met by medical providers. Future websites must find a compromise in order to protect experts from being overwhelmed by general, nonspecific requests while supporting patients with individualized answers.

Background: In 2001, the Department of Health produced the Improving Working Lives (IWL) for Doctors document. This is the first national survey which asks hospital doctors what changes are needed to improve their working lives.

Methods: An online questionnaire was run over a period of six weeks and was open to all doctors of all grades. Doctors were asked to choose their top five factors from a list of 35 diverse choices or to provide alternatives in free text. Demographic data were also collected.

Results: 1603 hospital doctors working in the UK completed the online questionnaire. Improved secretarial or managerial support was the first IWL choice for consultants, with different aspects of clinical and non-clinical support representing their top four choices. Junior hospital doctors and staff and associate specialist grades (staff grades, associate specialists, and clinical assistants) identified improved support for education and training as their first choice, while among the female specialist registrars, it was improved support for childcare.

Greater opportunities to develop new skills was an important issue for doctors in the surgical specialties and improved access to mentoring was important for all junior doctors, staff and associate specialist grades, and doctors from black and ethnic minority groups.

Conclusions: Hospital doctors in the UK need more support to improve their working lives. The principle needs are better secretarial and managerial support for consultants; education, training, and mentoring for junior doctors and staff and associate specialist grades; and improved opportunities to develop new skills for those in surgical specialties. Support with childcare is an important issue for female specialist registrars. The Department of Health, NHS trusts, deaneries, and Royal Colleges need to endorse policies that promote a training and working environment that will improve working lives for all hospital doctors, ensuring that appropriate and continuing support is available from the time doctors enter the new foundation programmes and proposed run-through grades, to their time spent as consultants in today's NHS.

Medical Students and academics at large universities have access to rich and varied information resources. These resources tend not to be available from off campus sites. We have been running a trial to connect practicing doctors to some of the medical resources that are available within our university. We are using the Internet to facilitate this process. In doing so, a large number of non academic, but very practical problems have had to be solved. We examine in particular the roles that Internet service providers and Internet information providers play in such a project. In particular we describe the factors used in advising users on external service providers, and why we as part of a university have chosen not to fulfil the internet service provision role ourselves.

Background

Ethics consultation is used regularly by some doctors, whereas others are reluctant to use these services.

Aim

To determine factors that may influence doctors to request or not request ethics consultation.

Methods

A survey questionnaire was distributed to doctors on staff at the University Community Hospital in Tampa, Florida, USA. The responses to the questions on the survey were arranged in a Likert Scale, from strongly disagree, somewhat disagree, neither agree nor disagree, somewhat agree to strongly agree. Data were analysed with the Wilcoxon test for group comparisons, the χ2 test to compare proportions and a logistic regression analysis.

Results

Of the 186 surveys distributed, 121 were returned, giving a 65% response rate. Demographic data were similar between the groups saying yes (I do/would use ethics consultation when indicated) and no (I do not/would not use ethics consultation when indicated). No statistically significant differences were observed between the user and non‐user groups in terms of opinions about ethics consultants having extensive training in ethics or participating in ethics educational opportunities. On the issue “Ethics committee members or consultants cannot grasp the full picture from the outside”, the non‐users were neutral, whereas the users somewhat disagreed (p = 0.012). Even more significant was the difference between surgeons and non‐surgeons, where, by logistic regression analysis, surgeons who believed that ethics consultants could not grasp the full picture from the outside were highly likely to not use (p = 0.0004). Non‐users of ethics consultations thought that it was their responsibility to resolve issues with the patient or family (72.2% agree, p<0.05). Users of ethics consultation believed in shared decision making or the importance of alternate points of view (90.8% agree, p<0.05).

Implications

Ethics consultations are used by doctors who believe in shared decision making. Doctors who did not use ethics consultation tended to think that it was their responsibility to resolve issues with patients and families and that they were already proficient in ethics.

Background: Increasing efforts have been made to provide information to help consumers to select a healthcare provider, but the public release of hospital performance data has had only a limited impact on consumer choice.

Objectives: To understand the experience of consumers in searching for physician performance information and to investigate the potential impact on their propensity to change doctors if hypothetically provided with physician specific performance information.

Design: A nationwide telephone interview survey using a structured questionnaire.

Setting: The survey was conducted in Taiwan, a country with a universal health insurance programme where residents are free to choose between physicians for any medical consultation.

Participants: 4015 adults aged over 20 years contacted by random digit dialling telephone calls.

Main outcome measures: Subjects were asked (1) if they have ever compared the quality of care provided by physicians in their area; (2) if they would consult a performance report if it was available; and (3) if they would change doctors on the basis of information provided in the report.

Results: Approximately half the subjects had made comparisons between doctors; 73% stated that they would consult a performance report if it was available, and 77% were prepared to change doctors if their doctor performed badly in the report.

Conclusions: Providing physician specific performance reports to the public may be viewed favourably by consumers of health care and have a significant impact on physician selection and hence quality improvement.

Background

Studies have shown that a large portion of patient satisfaction is related to physician care, especially when the patient can identify the role of the physician on the team. Because patients encounter multiple physicians in teaching hospitals, it is often difficult to determine who the patient feels is his or her main caregiver. Surveys evaluating resident physicians would help to improve patient satisfaction but are not currently implemented at most medical institutions.

Intervention

We created a survey to judge patient satisfaction and to determine who patients believe is their “main physician” on the teaching service.

Methods

Patients on a medical teaching service at The Miriam Hospital during 20 days in March 2008 were asked to complete the survey. A physician involved in the research project administered the surveys. Surveys included 3 questions that judged patient's perception and identification of their primary physician and 7 questions regarding patient satisfaction. Completed surveys were analyzed using averages.

Results

Of the 126 patients identified for participation, 102 (81%) completed the survey. Most patients identified the intern (first-year resident) as their main physician. Overall, more than 90% of patients expressed satisfaction with their main physician.

Conclusion

Most patients on the teaching service perceived the intern as their main physician and were satisfied with their physician's care. One likely reason is that interns spend the greatest amount of time with patients on the teaching service.

OBJECTIVES--To explore NHS doctors' attitudes to competent patients' requests for euthanasia and to estimate the proportion of doctors who have taken active steps to hasten a patient's death. DESIGN--Anonymous postal questionnaire, with no possibility of follow up. The survey was conducted from December 1992 to March 1993. SUBJECTS--All (221) general practitioners and 203 hospital consultants in one area of England. RESULTS--273 doctors responded to a question on whether a patient had ever asked them to hasten death. Of these, 163 had been asked to; 124 of these had been asked to take active steps to hasten death; 38 of 119 (32%) of these had complied with such a request (95% confidence interval 23% to 40%). This proportion represented 12% of all those who returned a completed questionnaire and 9% of all those who had been sent a questionnaire (95% confidence interval 6.3% to 11.7%). A larger proportion of the respondents (142/307 (46%)), however, would consider taking active steps to bring about the death of a patient if it was legal to do so. CONCLUSIONS--Many doctors face difficult decisions about euthanasia. For the benefit of both patients and doctors euthanasia should be discussed more openly.

Introduction

Since 1986, the German Cancer Information Service at the German Cancer Research Center has been working as a national telephone service, answering more than 155.000 inquiries from cancer patients and their families. In 1996, the service received the first E-mail requests, and in early 1999, a Web site with more than 1,8 MB information on cancer related topics was installed. More and more callers name the internet as one of their information resources. Who are these callers? Which questions do they ask? Are there specific problems caused by the internet information?

Methods

In 1998, the questions of cancer patients and their families using electronic mail to contact the Cancer Information Service were compared to those of the callers. From April to September, 1999, a short interview was performed with callers identified as internet users, asking for the pros and cons and their special problems with their internet searches.

Results

Cancer patients with access to the internet tend to use as many sources of information as possible and rate them differently. The internet is most valued for very specific information otherwise not available to patients, but only to health professionals. Treatment options are the main topic of interest. Patients and their families, however, still ask the Cancer Information Service for assistance in assessing the relevance of the news for their own situation, especially when clinical trials or unconventional methods are concerned. E-mail questions to the Cancer Information Service do not differ from those asked in phone calls.

Discussion

Internet is developing into a new and powerful instrument to give patients access to cancer information. However, problems are caused by the number and diversity of Web sites presenting medical contents, the anonymity of many pages and the commercial aspects of information. Cancer organizations, i.e. hospitals, research centers and governmental institutions, should take the patients' needs into account in designing their Web sites. Guidelines, standards and methods of quality control could be helpful and should be established.

In the popular rush to provide electronic consumer health information, particularly via the Internet, one system has been largely overlooked-the free-net. Free-nets are often text-based systems from which users choose topics from "menus." While the World Wide Web can be more graphically appealing, it can also be overwhelming. Medical information resources are available to diverse populations through free-nets, which are convenient, free services. The amount of information and range of topics they offer are vast. A study of Florida's free-nets during a six-month period involved five free-net systems. Survey items included user demographics, interlibrary loan services, attitudes toward providing medical advice, and availability of medical librarian expertise. Comparisons include the number of user queries on medical and health-related free-net menus, user-friendliness, and the type of health information provided.

Many clinicians are experiencing consumer resistance to the prescription of equine HRT (that is hormone replacement therapy which has been manufactured from mare's urine). In this paper I consider the ethical implications of prescribing these preparations. I decide that patients should have a right to refuse such treatment but also ask whether a prescribing doctor should choose one preparation over another on moral grounds. I determine that there is prima facie evidence to suggest that mares may suffer and that prescription of equine HRT (instead of synthetic oestrogen-oestriol) would therefore have to be justified in terms of either offering greater benefits to the women or offering greater value for money to the health service. I find that there is no substantial evidence to suggest that equine HRT offers unique advantages over and above oestriol. I conclude that it would be preferable for a doctor to recommend the synthetic oestrogen to women who want relief from the symptoms of the menopause and protection from osteoporosis and cardiovascular disease.

Objectives To estimate the proportion of advertised non-consultant hospital posts that do not conform to nationally recognised terms and conditions of service and to investigate why these posts exist, who fills them, and what the doctors in such jobs do.

Design Analysis of job advertisements and a cross sectional survey of advertisers.

Setting Job advertisements in one of the leading UK publications listing hospital doctor vacancies (BMJ Careers).

Results Nearly a quarter of non-consultant posts advertised in the two study periods (23% and 21%) were for non-standard grade posts. A questionnaire was sent to the medical staffing officer for each post. Of 430 questionnaires sent out 192 (45%) were returned. 98 trusts said they advertised non-standard grades because there was no more funding from the deanery for approved posts and 75 because service needs could not be met by doctors in training grades. In 132 posts (69%) the post holder would be required to do on-call work, and 50 advertisers (26%) required on-call duty for 1 in 5 or more frequently, which would conflict with the European Working Time Directive. 131 advertisers (68%) expected the posts to be filled by doctors from outside the European Economic Area.

Conclusions Non-standard grade posts are mostly being created to meet service requirements when there is no more funding for standard training posts and are expected to be filled by doctors from overseas. Doctors in such posts can be more easily exploited and their careers hindered. The Department of Health's annual census should include non-standard grade doctors.

OBJECTIVE--To assess doctors' and patients' views about a district general hospital bone densitometry service and to examine existing practice to influence future provision. DESIGN--Three postal surveys: (a) of doctors potentially using the service, (b) of patients undergoing a bone densitometry test during a six month period, and (c) of the referring doctors of the patients undergoing the test. SETTING--Bone densitometry service at South Cleveland Hospital, Middlesbrough and two district health authorities: South Tees and Northallerton. SUBJECTS--All general practitioners (n=201) and hospital consultants in general medicine, rheumatology, obstetrics and gynaecology, orthopaedics, radio therapy and oncology, haematology, and radiology (n=61); all patients undergoing an initial bone densitometry test (n=309) during a six month period; and their referring doctors. MAIN MEASURES--Service awareness and use, knowledge of clinical indications, test results, influence of test results on patient management, satisfaction with the service and its future provision. RESULTS--The overall response rates for the three surveys were 87%, 70%, and 61%. There was a high awareness of the service among doctors and patients; 219(84%) doctors were aware and 155 of them (71%) had used it, and patients often (40%) suggested the test to their doctor. The test was used for a range of reasons including screening although the general use was consistent with current guidelines. Two hundred (65%) bone densitometry measurements were normal, 71(23%) were low normal, and 38(12%) were low. Although doctors reported that management of patients had been influenced by the test results, the algorithm for decision making was unclear. Patients and doctors were satisfied with the service and most (n=146, 68%) doctors wanted referral guidelines for the service. CONCLUSIONS--There was a high awareness of, use of, and satisfaction with the service. Patients were being referred for a range of reasons and a few of these could not be justified, many tests were normal, and clinical decision making was not always influenced by the test result. It is concluded that bone densitometry services should be provided but only for patients whose management will be influenced by test results and subject to guidelines to ensure appropriate use of the technology.

A detailed postal questionnaire was sent to 400 general practitioners, hospital doctors, and Ayurvedic practitioners in Sri Lanka as part of a wider study to investigate the delivery of primary medical care. The responses to questions that were related to the Alma Ata recommendations, which aim at providing "health for all by the year 2000," and the perceived health needs of the population are reported. Basic sanitation, clean water, adequate nutrition, and improved health education were considered to be the most important needs. When asked to suggest one change in health care 30% of the doctors recommended the integration of primary and secondary care services.

OBJECTIVES: The objectives of this study were to assess the work demands as potential stressors of health service consultants, and to describe the development of tools for measuring stress experiences of consultants. METHODS: A stratified random sample of 500 NHS consultants in Scotland was targeted by a postal questionnaire and 375 (75%) returned a valid response. They completed questionnaires, including information on demographic factors, work demands, occupational stressors, and burnout. RESULTS: Principal components analysis showed that professional work demands of consultants fell into three categories: clinical, academic, and administrative. Their perceived stressors separated into four main factors: clinical responsibility, demands on time, organisational constraints, and personal confidence. These were assessed by 25 questions in the specialist doctors' stress inventory. Specific questions about perceived stressors which resulted in a high positive response included questions about demands on time, and organisational change in the NHS. CONCLUSION: These self reported data characterise and measure the consultants' work demands and their role as potential stressors. These measurements could form the basis for strategies to reduce occupational stress in these workers.

Objective

Recent changes in postgraduate medical training in the UK collectively organized under the auspices of Modernising Medical Careers (MMC) have created new labels for junior doctors in training. It would appear that many nurses and other health workers do not understand the new terminology. We aimed to investigate the knowledge of nursing staff about new junior doctor titles in a district general hospital. As far as we are aware, this is the first survey to determine the views and knowledge of the new terms among staff working in the NHS.

Design

Questionnaire study.

Setting

District general hospital, West Midlands, UK.

Participants

Fifty-five randomly selected staff nurses working in the surgical directorate.

Main outcome measure

Questions were asked about their views and knowledge of the current nomenclature. To objectively assess knowledge of the new titles respondents were asked to match equivalent positions with those based on the old system.

Results

Only 22% (n = 12) of respondents felt that they fully understand current terms in usage. Seventy-six percent (n = 42) felt that it was ‘very important’ that titles accurately convey role and seniority of the doctor. The most common titles correctly matched were FY1 and House Officer (n = 45, 81%) and FY2 and First Year Senior House Officer (n = 35, 64%). Only 9% (n = 5) of staff nurses correctly matched ST3 to Junior Registrar and 13% (n = 7) correctly matched ST7 to Senior Registrar. Ward-based staff nurses demonstrated greater familiarity with titles when compared to nurses who work mainly in the outpatient clinic and theatre setting (p = 0.017). We did not identify a statistically significant association with demographic characteristics (age, gender, experience) and knowledge of the new terms (p > 0.05). Approximately 98% (n = 54) of the staff surveyed felt that terms are confusing to nurses and need to be simplified.

Conclusions

Our survey revealed that nursing staff lacked knowledge of the current terminology to describe doctors in training. This may have implications for staff expectations regarding specific role of junior doctor in terms of clinical decision-making, working relationships and communication between team members, and ultimately patient care.

Background

Smokers attribute respiratory symptoms, even when severe, to everyday causes and not as indicative of ill-health warranting medical attention. The aim of this pilot study was to conduct a structured vignette survey of people attending general practice to determine when they would advise a person with respiratory symptoms to consult a medical practitioner. Particular reference was made to smoking status and lung cancer.

Methods

Participants were recruited from two general practices in Western Australia. Respondents were invited to complete self-administered questionnaires containing nine vignettes chosen at random from a pool of sixty four vignettes, based on six clinical variables. Twenty eight vignettes described cases with at least 5% risk of cancer. For analysis these were dubbed 'cancer vignettes'. Respondents were asked if they would advise a significant other to consult a doctor with their respiratory symptoms. Logistic regression and non-parametric tests were used to analyse the data.

Results

Three hundred questionnaires were distributed and one hundred and forty completed responses were collected over six weeks. The majority (70.3%) of respondents were female aged forty and older. A history of six weeks' of symptoms, weight loss, cough and breathlessness independently increased the odds of recommending a consultation with a medical practitioner by a factor of 11.8, 2.11, 1.40 and 4.77 respectively. A history of smoking independently increased the odds of the person being thought 'likely' or 'very likely' to have cancer by a factor of 2.46. However only 32% of cancer vignettes with a history of cigarette smoking were recognised as presentations of possible cancer.

Conclusion

Even though a history of cigarette smoking was more likely to lead to the suggestion that a symptomatic person may have cancer we did not confirm that smokers would be more likely to be advised to consult a doctor, even when presenting with common symptoms of lung cancer.

Since 1974 the National Health Service (NHS) has been subject to successive reorganisations which have shaped and reshaped patterns of administration, clinical care and services. This paper uses two sources of oral evidence: a Witness Seminar with a group of administrators who attended the NHS National Administrators’ Training Scheme in the late 1950s and a collection of interviews with doctors and managers who have played key roles in the health services of Manchester and Salford between 1974 and 2007. It surveys the day-to-day interactions between doctors and administrators/managers in hospital settings and analyses what these reveal about relationships within the broader context of shifting organisational structures and management styles. It suggests that the evidence challenges the historical stereotyping of the two groups and that strong working relationships have been determined as much by the values of respect and association as by changes to structures or management styles.

Background

The Internet has enlarged the possibilities of human communication and opened new ways of exploring perceptions of mental health. This study is part of a research project aiming to explore, describe, and analyze different discourses of mental health in Norway and Sweden, using material from Internet-based services.

Aim

To examine messages posed by users of publicly available question-and-answer services and to describe their content.

Methods

A Web search was used to identify Norwegian and Swedish Websites offering mental health services by email or posted messages. A total of 601 messages from 20 services, 10 Norwegian and 10 Swedish, were analyzed by means of qualitative content analysis and further interpreted in light of the social theory of recognition by Honneth.

Results

Eight categories emerged from the analysis: family life, couples, others, violence, the ungovernable, self-image, negotiating normality, and life struggles. These categories were then grouped into three themes: (1) relationship to significant others, (2) relationship to self, and (3) relationship to the social community. The themes promoted an understanding of mental health as closely connected to political and social factors.

Conclusions

The results showed a variety of concerns from various parts of life and empowered the view that mental health should be understood broadly, at a conceptual level. Mental health emerged as a deeply relational concept that emphasized the equal distribution of chances in life. It strengthened the moral grammar of social inclusion and the acceptance of plurality in social life.

Background

A lesbian woman will have to choose whether to disclose or not in every new encounter, including when consulting her general practitioner (GP). She may fear a negative reaction in the doctor, based on knowledge of marginalization and prejudice of homosexuals throughout history.

Objectives

To explore patients’ experiences concerning disclosure of their lesbian orientation to general practitioners (GPs), focusing on why they find it important, and what GPs can do to promote disclosure.

Methods

One group interview was conducted, audiotaped, and transcribed verbatim. Qualitative analysis was conducted by systematic text condensation inspired by Giorgi's phenomenological approach. Six women aged 28–59 years, who self-identified as lesbian, were recruited through a web-based, publicly accessible network for research on homosexuality.

Main outcome measures

Accounts of experiences where the patient thought that information of a lesbian sexual orientation was of importance in the consultation with a GP.

Results

Disclosure can imply information of medical relevance, explain circumstances, and generate a feeling of being seen as one's true self. The intentional use of common consultation techniques may facilitate disclosure.

Conclusion

Lesbian patients may want to disclose their sexual orientation to the general practitioner but they experience certain barriers. These can be overcome when the GP provides an open and permissive context. GPs can benefit from knowledge concerning sexual orientation in their work with lesbian patients.

Background

Searching for health information is one of the most-common tasks performed by Internet users. Many users begin searching on popular search engines rather than on prominent health information sites. We know that many visitors to our (National Cancer Institute) Web site, cancer.gov, arrive via links in search engine result.

Objective

To learn more about the specific needs of our general-public users, we wanted to understand what lay users really wanted to know about cancer, how they phrased their questions, and how much detail they used.

Methods

The National Cancer Institute partnered with AskJeeves, Inc to develop a methodology to capture, sample, and analyze 3 months of cancer-related queries on the Ask.com Web site, a prominent United States consumer search engine, which receives over 35 million queries per week. Using a benchmark set of 500 terms and word roots supplied by the National Cancer Institute, AskJeeves identified a test sample of cancer queries for 1 week in August 2001. From these 500 terms only 37 appeared ≥ 5 times/day over the trial test week in 17208 queries. Using these 37 terms, 204165 instances of cancer queries were found in the Ask.com query logs for the actual test period of June-August 2001. Of these, 7500 individual user questions were randomly selected for detailed analysis and assigned to appropriate categories. The exact language of sample queries is presented.

Results

Considering multiples of the same questions, the sample of 7500 individual user queries represented 76077 queries (37% of the total 3-month pool). Overall 78.37% of sampled Cancer queries asked about 14 specific cancer types. Within each cancer type, queries were sorted into appropriate subcategories including at least the following: General Information, Symptoms, Diagnosis and Testing, Treatment, Statistics, Definition, and Cause/Risk/Link. The most-common specific cancer types mentioned in queries were Digestive/Gastrointestinal/Bowel (15.0%), Breast (11.7%), Skin (11.3%), and Genitourinary (10.5%). Additional subcategories of queries about specific cancer types varied, depending on user input. Queries that were not specific to a cancer type were also tracked and categorized.

Conclusions

Natural-language searching affords users the opportunity to fully express their information needs and can aid users naïve to the content and vocabulary. The specific queries analyzed for this study reflect news and research studies reported during the study dates and would surely change with different study dates. Analyzing queries from search engines represents one way of knowing what kinds of content to provide to users of a given Web site. Users ask questions using whole sentences and keywords, often misspelling words. Providing the option for natural-language searching does not obviate the need for good information architecture, usability engineering, and user testing in order to optimize user experience.

Background

Internet-based depression communities provide a forum for individuals to communicate and share information and ideas. There has been little research into the health status and other characteristics of users of these communities.

Methods

Online cross-sectional survey of Internet depression communities to identify depressive morbidity among users of Internet depression communities in six European countries; to investigate whether users were in contact with health services and receiving treatment; and to identify user perceived effects of the communities.

Results

Major depression was highly prevalent among respondents (varying by country from 40% to 64%). Forty-nine percent of users meeting criteria for major depression were not receiving treatment, and 35% had no consultation with health services in the previous year. Thirty-six percent of repeat community users who had consulted a health professional in the previous year felt that the Internet community had been an important factor in deciding to seek professional help.

Conclusions

There are high levels of untreated and undiagnosed depression in users of Internet depression communities. This group represents a target for intervention. Internet communities can provide information and support for stigmatizing conditions that inhibit more traditional modes of information seeking.

Analysis of nationally representative surveys of adults and older teenagers has identified a small but steady decrease in consultation rates following the transient increase which occurred after the introduction of the National Health Service. Visiting rates decreased substantially after 1950 but no trend has been identified in attendance rates. However, between 1950 and 1978 visits have represented a decreasing proportion, and attendances an increasing proportion, of all consultations.