Internet availability and interest in patients at a family medicine residency clinic

The Internet has affected the day-to-day lives of physicians, hospitals, and patients. The medical information for each is available at a moment's notice. We surveyed patients to see how many have access to the Internet and whether they are interested in using the Internet to communicate about their medical care.

An anonymous one-page survey was given to patients over the age of 18 who had an office visit at the Family Medicine Center.

A total of 258 of 300 surveys were returned. A majority of these patients have access to the Internet (80.6%). Patients were most interested in being able to receive appointment reminders by e-mail (44.6%), get answers to medical questions (41.9%), and schedule appointments online (41.5%).

Patients would like to be active participants in their medical care electronically. We encourage other physicians to investigate what patients in their practice would consider a service to provide electronically.