Computerized health information networks: house calls of the future?

The Cleveland Free-Net is the nation's first free open-access computer system providing health information to the public. An online survey was developed for the family medicine clinic housed within the Free-Net to study the characteristics of the users of the system and the reason they selected the Free-Net as a source of health information. Three areas were addressed: 1) user demographics; 2) content analysis of questions; and 3) reasons Free-Net was used instead of the person's own health care provider. An analysis of the initial system done in 1985 revealed that early users of the system were known to be predominantly white male professionals, generally in the 25-35 age range. In comparison to that profile, more of the users in this study were women, but the majority of users continued to be white male professionals. Questions asked can be classified in six categories: diagnosis, symptoms, treatment, medications, laboratory tests, and prevention. The main categories of medical concerns were cardiovascular, gastrointestinal, obstetrical, and gynecologic problems. Users tended to use the Free-Net for health information rather than their physician because the traditional means was not always appropriate for the life-style of this population.