Physicians’ reasons for professional Internet Use and the Impact on Attitudes towards Internet-informed Patients and Prescribing Behavior
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Abstract
Background
Today’s physicians are becoming increasingly confronted with Internet-informed patients and are being forced to reconsider their behavior towards their patients. However, the Internet not only influences health knowledge and behavior of patients but physicians themselves are also affected in their actions. Our objective is to segment different types of physicians based on their reasons for using the Internet for professional activities and to analyze how the segments differ in their attitude towards the Internet-informed patient and their prescribing behavior.
Methods
In December 2010 and January 2011 a survey of German physicians was conducted. The survey contained a set of questions about use of the Internet, attitude towards Internet-informed patients and prescribing behavior. The sample was drawn from a physicians e-panel maintained by GfK HealthCare, a survey research company in Nuremberg, Germany. 287 physicians from three medical fields participated in the survey. To assess the reasons why physicians use the Internet for their professional activities, respondents were given a list of statements. They were asked to rate their level of agreement on a 7-point scale (1, strongly disagree; 7, strongly agree). By using principal components factor analysis with varimax rotation, three different primary reasons for using the Internet were found: (1) being on the cutting-edge and self-expression (Cronbach’s α = 0.882), (2) efficiency and effectiveness (α = 0.787), (3) diversity and convenience (α = 0.710). The three factors accounted for 71.365% of variance. Moreover, to identify particular types of Internet users amongst the physicians, a Two-Step-Cluster analysis was used and four types of Internet users were revealed. The different types of Internet users were described based on demographic data, e.g. practice type, age as well as duration of private and professional use of the Internet.
Results
Based on physicians’ reasons for using the Internet, four types of Internet users were clustered: (1) The Self-expressional Socializer, (2) The Information Seeker, (3) The Internet Denier and (4) The Driven Self-expressionist. While differences in medical field (Chi² = 16.729, p = 0.010), duration of private Internet use (F = 4.173, p = 0.007) and duration of professional Internet use (F = 3.351, p = 0.020) are statistically significant, age shows no significant differences (Chi² = 1.693, p = 0.946). Physicians’ reasons for using the Internet have an impact on their attitude towards Internet-informed patients, concerning their (1) attitude towards informed patients in general (F = 9.215, p = 0.000), (2) the perceived improvement of the physician-patient relationship (F = 5.386, p = 0.001), (3) the perceived accuracy of information that the Internet-informed patient brings into the doctor’s practice (F = 3.658, p = 0.013) as well as (4) the perceived amount of time that has to be devoted to an Internet-informed patient (F = 3.356, p = 0.019). Concerning the use of the Internet and the impact on prescribing behavior, no significant differences were found. None of the user types would tend to prescribe a desired medication because the patient is informed (F = 1.910, p = 0.128).
Conclusions
Results indicate that four separate user types can be identified that differ significantly with regard to their attitude towards Internet-informed patients. No significant differences were found regarding prescribing behavior.
Today’s physicians are becoming increasingly confronted with Internet-informed patients and are being forced to reconsider their behavior towards their patients. However, the Internet not only influences health knowledge and behavior of patients but physicians themselves are also affected in their actions. Our objective is to segment different types of physicians based on their reasons for using the Internet for professional activities and to analyze how the segments differ in their attitude towards the Internet-informed patient and their prescribing behavior.
Methods
In December 2010 and January 2011 a survey of German physicians was conducted. The survey contained a set of questions about use of the Internet, attitude towards Internet-informed patients and prescribing behavior. The sample was drawn from a physicians e-panel maintained by GfK HealthCare, a survey research company in Nuremberg, Germany. 287 physicians from three medical fields participated in the survey. To assess the reasons why physicians use the Internet for their professional activities, respondents were given a list of statements. They were asked to rate their level of agreement on a 7-point scale (1, strongly disagree; 7, strongly agree). By using principal components factor analysis with varimax rotation, three different primary reasons for using the Internet were found: (1) being on the cutting-edge and self-expression (Cronbach’s α = 0.882), (2) efficiency and effectiveness (α = 0.787), (3) diversity and convenience (α = 0.710). The three factors accounted for 71.365% of variance. Moreover, to identify particular types of Internet users amongst the physicians, a Two-Step-Cluster analysis was used and four types of Internet users were revealed. The different types of Internet users were described based on demographic data, e.g. practice type, age as well as duration of private and professional use of the Internet.
Results
Based on physicians’ reasons for using the Internet, four types of Internet users were clustered: (1) The Self-expressional Socializer, (2) The Information Seeker, (3) The Internet Denier and (4) The Driven Self-expressionist. While differences in medical field (Chi² = 16.729, p = 0.010), duration of private Internet use (F = 4.173, p = 0.007) and duration of professional Internet use (F = 3.351, p = 0.020) are statistically significant, age shows no significant differences (Chi² = 1.693, p = 0.946). Physicians’ reasons for using the Internet have an impact on their attitude towards Internet-informed patients, concerning their (1) attitude towards informed patients in general (F = 9.215, p = 0.000), (2) the perceived improvement of the physician-patient relationship (F = 5.386, p = 0.001), (3) the perceived accuracy of information that the Internet-informed patient brings into the doctor’s practice (F = 3.658, p = 0.013) as well as (4) the perceived amount of time that has to be devoted to an Internet-informed patient (F = 3.356, p = 0.019). Concerning the use of the Internet and the impact on prescribing behavior, no significant differences were found. None of the user types would tend to prescribe a desired medication because the patient is informed (F = 1.910, p = 0.128).
Conclusions
Results indicate that four separate user types can be identified that differ significantly with regard to their attitude towards Internet-informed patients. No significant differences were found regarding prescribing behavior.
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