Danish patients call for more Internet and e-mail communication

Demand is growing fast for hospital doctors and general practitioners to interact with their patients via the Internet. E-mail consultations are becoming more common, and more people want access to electronic health records, according to a Danish survey presented at the World of Health IT Conference and Exhibition in Geneva, Switzerland, last month.

In Denmark, about 90% of households have Internet access. A national e-health portal was established in late 2004, enabling patients to read their medication history and have e-mail consultations (Technol Health Care 2005;13(5):366-367).

A survey conducted in October 2005 showed that 60% of Danes have used the Internet for health purposes: 3% every day, 7% every week, 19% every month, 17% every six months, 8% every year, and 6% less than once a year.

"Once they have access to the Internet, older people are just as likely to use it for health as younger people," said Henning Voss, a consultant to the Danish Centre for Health Telematics and project manager of Baltic eHealth. "The most common users are, in order, the well-educated, women, those in poor health, and those with children."

Of the 1000 respondents aged between 15 and 80, 45% thought that the Internet was a valuable source of health information, while 71% thought direct face-to-face contact with health professionals was important.

Other sources of information were also cited:

• family, friends, and colleagues (51%)
• pharmacies (41%)
• television and radio (38%)
• newspapers and magazines (36%)
• books and leaflets (34%)
• courses and lectures (19%)

Only 8% of respondents felt anxiety as a result of using the Internet for health, compared with 25% who felt relief. A fifth of the sample decided to change their diet and lifestyle as a result of what they learned on the Internet, and 19% used the Internet to make suggestions to health professionals. Another 5% used the Internet to change an appointment, and 3% used it to change their medication.

In a smaller Danish survey conducted in 2000, only 45% of respondents had access to the Internet 20% used it for health. In 2003, the comparable figures were 75% and 51%.

The Geneva congress was organized by the Health Information and Management Systems Society, the European Commission, and the World Health Organization. There were around 1700 attendees and 60 exhibitors. A follow-up event will be held in Vienna in late October 2007.

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