How to guide patients for online information: focus on chronic disease

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the accessibility and utility of a common Internet search strategy so physicians might provide this guidance to their patients seeking health information on chronic disease. We selected three common chronic diseases: diabetes, hypertension, and osteoarthritis. We then formulated basic questions from a patient perspective about diagnosis, treatment, and prognosis. A non-medical professional attempted to answer these questions by typing the disease name into the Google search engine. Focusing on the first ten web sites on the Google list was a successful strategy for finding sites that could answer the study questions (average of 61% of the time). The average number of clicks required to answer any question was 1.6. Web sites sponsored by government agencies (89% success) and hospitals (100% success) yielded answers to the questions more often than other sites. In conclusion, despite the multitude of web sites that appear when the name of a chronic disease is entered into a search engine, the top ten results are usually adequate to provide relevant information on common clinical questions to the average patient. Physicians can guide patients to relevant information by instructing them to type the name of the disease itself into a search engine and focusing on government and hospital-sponsored Web sites.