What is the use of internet health department ?
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Answer:
This article presents descriptive data from surveys that probed the use of health information by Internet users in Australia and New Zealand. Using this data, the article also contributes to understanding of factors associated with a series of Internet health information use outcomes. Four hundred six respondents (151 Australians; 255 New Zealanders) had used the Internet for health information and were asked about emailing doctors, Internet searching, taking Internet information to the doctor and perceptions of Internet information reliability. Regression analyses were conducted to examine associations between key outcomes and independent variables. A bootstrap procedure was performed to select variables used in logistic regression models. Fifty-two percent of health Internet users had emailed their doctor. Few significant differences between Australian and New Zealand responses were found. Internet use for health information was below levels found in North American and European studies, but there was similar prevalence of emailing and presenting Internet information to doctors. Emailers were more likely to believe this improved communication with doctors (OR = 3.59; 95%CI 1.95, 6.61). Frequent Internet searchers were more likely to take Internet information to their doctor (OR = 2.41; 1.47, 3.92), and believe the Internet to be a more useful information source (OR = 2.47; 1.22, 5.03). Females were less likely to email their doctor (OR = 0.47; 0.26, 0.85). More educated respondents were more likely to email their doctor (OR = 1.99; 1.16, 3.39) and to check website credentials (OR = 2.61; 1.53, 4.43). This study suggests that there is a digital divide among health care Internet users. It shows that, for males, email could have health care advantages. Doctors may need to develop strategies to deal with patients presenting with Internet information, including how to source information and check its credibility.
Answer:
Many health-related processes stand to be reshaped by the Internet. In clinical settings, the Internet enables care providers to gain rapid access to information that can aid in the diagnosis of health conditions or the development of suitable treatment plans. It can make patient records, test results, and practice guidelines accessible from the examination room. It can also allow care providers to consult with each other electronically to discuss treatment plans or operative procedures. At the same time, the Internet supports a shift toward more patient-centered care, enabling consumers to gather health-related information themselves; to communicate with care providers, health plan administrators, and other consumers electronically; and even to receive care in the home. The Internet can also support numerous health-related activities beyond the direct provision of care. By supporting financial and administrative transactions, public health surveillance, professional education, and biomedical research, the Internet can streamline the administrative overhead associated with health care, improve the health of the nation's population, better train health care providers, and lead to new insights into the nature of disease.
The capability of the Internet to support these applications depends on whether the relevant technical needs are met and whether the operational aspects of the systems involved are understood and manageable. As with any information technology system, the technical requirements depend heavily on the specific characteristics of the individual systems—the number of anticipated users, degree of real-time interaction desired, number of simultaneous sessions that must be supported, and so on.
Many of these factors, in turn, are influenced by considerations other than network performance. These include organizational competencies, changing preferences and expectations of consumers and care providers, reimbursement policies for different health services, availability of complementary technologies, and laws. The confluence of so many factors confounds attempts to predict viable future applications of the Internet in the health sector.
This chapter presents a broad overview of the types of applications that the Internet can support in consumer health, clinical care, financial and administrative transactions, public health, health professional education, and biomedical research. It draws on a series of site visits by the committee (these visits are summarized in Appendix A) and other briefings to the committee to examine applications that have been deployed and that are still in the early stages of conceptualization. The chapter attempts to assess the technical capabilities demanded of the Internet in terms of bandwidth, latency, security, availability, and ubiquity (as defined in Chapter 1). Specific technical information is presented where possible, but because of the nascent nature of many Internet applications in the health sector, often the most that can be offered is a qualitative assessment. Accordingly, a ranking scale is used to assess the importance of each technical dimension to each class of applications. These dimensions are ranked on a scale of one to four, with one plus sign (+) indicating little importance relative to the other dimensions and four plus sings (++++) signifying the most importance. The chapter also identifies organizational-and policy-level issues that will influence the way the Internet is deployed in different health applications and notes, where applicable, other technologies that must be developed to make certain applications feasible. Specific technical, organizational, and policy issues are addressed in subsequent chapters of the report.