Use of online health information by geriatric and adult ED patients: access, understanding and trust

Abstract

Objective

The objective was to characterize geriatric patients’ use of online health information (OHI) relative to younger adults and assess their comfort with OHI compared to health information (HI) from their physician.

Methods

This was a prospective cross-sectional survey study of adult ED patients. The survey assessed patients’ self-reported use of OHI in the past year and immediately prior to ED visit and analyzed differences across 4 age groups: 18-39, 40-64, 65-74, and 75+. Patients’ ability to access, understand, and trust OHI was assessed using a 7 point Likert scale and compared to parallel questions regarding HI obtained from their doctor. Patient use of OHI was compared across age groups. Comfort with OHI and HI obtained from a doctor was compared across age groups using the Kruskall Wallis test. Comparisons between sources of health information were made within age groups using the Wilcoxan signed rank test.

Results

Of 889 patients who were approached for study inclusion 723 patients (81.3%) completed the survey. The majority of patients had used OHI in the last year in all age groups, but older patients were less likely to have used OHI: age 18-39: 90.3%, 40-64: 85.3%, 65-74: 76.4% and 75+: 50.7%, p<0.001. The youngest patients were most likely to have used OHI prior to coming to the ED, 47.1%, 28.3%, 17.1%, 8.0%, p<0.001. Older patients were more likely to have an established doctor 18-39: 79.4%, 40-64: 91.1%, 65-74: 97.5%, 75+ 97.4%, p<0.001, and were more likely to have contacted their doctor prior to their ED visit: 36.7%, 40.2%, 46.7%, 53.5%, p 0.02. The oldest patients were most likely to find health information more accessible from their doctor than the Internet, while the youngest patients found health information more accessible on the Internet than from their doctor. Regardless of age, patients noted that information from their physician was both easier to understand and more trustworthy than information found on the Internet.

Conclusion

Although many older patients used OHI, they were less likely than younger adults to use the Internet immediately prior to an ED visit. Despite often using OHI, patients of all age groups found healthcare information from their doctor easier to understand and more trustworthy than information from the Internet. As health systems work to efficiently provide information to patients, addressing these perceived deficiencies may be necessary to build effective OHI programs.

This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

from Emergency Medicine via xlomafota13 on Inoreader http://ift.tt/2oQKTuP