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Online health information seeking by adults hospitalized for acute coronary syndromes: Who looks for information, and who discusses it with healthcare providers
Name:
Publisher version
UMass Chan Affiliations
Department of Emergency MedicineMeyers Primary Care Institute
Division of Cardiovascular Medicine, Department of Medicine
Department of Quantitative Health Sciences
Document Type
Journal ArticlePublication Date
2018-11-01Keywords
Acute coronary syndromesHealth information-seeking
Internet
Patient-provider communication
UMCCTS funding
Cardiovascular Diseases
Health Communication
Health Information Technology
Health Services Administration
Information LiteracyPublic Health Education and PromotionTranslational Medical Research
Metadata
Show full item recordAbstract
OBJECTIVE: To describe characteristics associated with online health information-seeking and discussing resulting information with healthcare providers among adults with acute coronary syndromes (ACS). METHODS: Consecutive patients hospitalized with ACS in 6 hospitals in Massachusetts and Georgia who reported Internet use in the past 4 weeks (online patients) were asked about online health information-seeking and whether they discussed information with healthcare providers. Participants reported demographic and psychosocial characteristics; clinical characteristics were abstracted from medical records. Logistic regression models estimated associations with information-seeking and provider communication. RESULTS: Online patients (N=1142) were on average aged 58.8 (SD: 10.6) years, 30.3% female, and 82.8% non-Hispanic white; 56.7% reported online health information-seeking. Patients with higher education and difficulty accessing medical care were more likely to report information-seeking; patients hospitalized with myocardial infarction, and those with impaired health numeracy and limited social networks were less likely. Among information-seekers, 33.9% discussed information with healthcare providers. More education and more frequent online information-seeking were associated with provider discussions. CONCLUSION: Over half of online patients with ACS seek health information online, but only 1 in 3 of these discuss information with healthcare providers. PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS: Clinician awareness of patient information-seeking may enhance communication including referral to evidence-based online resources.Source
Patient Educ Couns. 2018 Nov;101(11):1973-1981. doi: 10.1016/j.pec.2018.06.016. Epub 2018 Jun 30. Link to article on publisher's site
DOI
10.1016/j.pec.2018.06.016Permanent Link to this Item
http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14038/50328PubMed ID
30305253Related Resources
Scopus Count
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