J Korean Soc Med Inform.  2003 Dec;9(4):457-468.

Factors Affecting On-Line Medical Information Retrieval by Patients at a General Hospital in Seoul

• Kim Y
• Jung SH
• Lee HJ

Abstract

This study was designed to identify the factors relating to the retrieval of medical information from the Internet by patients at a general hospital in Seoul. A questionnaire survey was carried out for 440 inpatients and outpatients who visited the general hospital by 20 educated nurses between 24 and 25 October, 2002. The collected data were analyzed to evaluate the relationship between socioeconomic characteristics and Internet use, and opinions about medical information on the Internet and Internet use, by t-tests or chi-square tests. A logistic regression analysis was applied to find models explaining the factors affecting Internet use and the search for medical on the Internet. According to our logistic regression analysis, the younger, better educated, higher income, and singles showed a higher Odds ratio for Internet use. Age, education period, income and confidence level of the Internet contents were statistically significant in the search for medical information on the Internet(p< 0.05). The results showed the customers characteristics, needs, and problems with using the Internet in medical area on the customer s views. These results would be useful for building marketing strategies using the Internet as a way of servicing and communicating with the patients.

Keyword

Internet Medical Service; Medical Information Retrieval; Health Care Utilization

MeSH Terms

Education
Hospitals, General*
Humans
Information Storage and Retrieval*
Inpatients
Internet
Logistic Models
Marketing
Odds Ratio
Outpatients
Surveys and Questionnaires
Seoul*