The Internet as a new tool in the rehabilitation process of patients--education in focus

In the article we deal with the rehabilitation of patients using information technology, especially Internet support. We concentrate on two main areas in the IT support of rehabilitation: one of them is the support for individual therapy, the other one is providing patients with information, which is the basic step in emphasising individual responsibility. In the development of rehabilitation programmes, the knowledge of the IT professional and the therapist, in the IT support of web guidance, medical expertise plays the primary role. The degree of assistance involved in the rehabilitation process depends on the IT knowledge of medical (general practitioner, nursing staff) professionals as well. The necessary knowledge required in healing and development processes is imparted to professionals by a special (full-time) university training. It was a huge challenge for us to teach web-based information organisation skills to doctors and nurses, and it is also a complex task to put forward such an IT viewpoint to information specialists in order to create the foundations of the cooperation between IT and healthcare professionals.