E-patient

An e-patient is a health consumer who participates fully in his/her medical care. Sometimes referred to as an "internet patient," e-patients see themselves as equal partners with their doctors in the healthcare process. E-patients gather information about medical conditions that impact them and their families, using electronic communication tools (including Web 2.0 tools) in coping with medical conditions. The term encompasses both those who seek guidance for their own ailments and the friends and family members (e-caregivers) who go online on their behalf. e-Patients report two effects of their health research: "better health information and services, and different (but not always better) relationships with their doctors."

e-Patients are active in their care and are demonstrating the power of the Participatory Medicine or Health 2.0 / Medicine 2.0. model of care. The "e" can stand for electronic but can also stand for:

• Equipped with the skills to manage their own condition.
• Enabled to make choices about self-care and those choices are respected.
• Empowered
• Engaged patients are engaged in their own care
• Equals in their partnership(s) with the physician(s) involved in their care
• Emancipated
• Expert patients can improve their self-rated health status, cope better with fatigue and other generic features of chronic disease such as role limitation, and reduce disability and their dependence on hospital care.
• Evaluating. This refers not only to the information e-patients find, but also to the source of that information, be it a Web page, a peer, or a health care professional. It also suggests that this evaluation begins, and trust in sources is established, at an early stage.

• Equal. The e-patient expects to be an equal member of the team. There is evidence from this study that when this situation is not encouraged by professionals, individuals develop mechanisms to manage situations that place them in a location of equal power, but without the open and honest relationship that is also valued.

Based on the current state of knowledge on the impact of e-patients on the healthcare system and the quality of care received:

• A growing number of people say the internet has played a crucial or important role as they helped another person cope with a major illness.
• Since the advent of the Internet, many clinicians have underestimated the benefits and overestimated the risks of online health resources for patients.
• Medical online support groups have become an important healthcare resource.
• “…the net friendliness of clinicians and provider organizations—as rated by the e-patients they serve—is becoming an important new aspect of healthcare quality.”

• This is one the most important cultural medical revolutions of the past century, mediated and driven by technology.
• In order to understand the impact of the e-patient, clinicians will likely need to move beyond “pre-internet medical constructs.” Research must combine expertise from specialties that are not used to working together.
• It is crucial for medical education to take the e-patient into account, and to prepare students for medical practice that includes the e-patient.

See also

• eHealth
• mHealth
• Doctor–patient relationship
• Patient opinion leader
• Virtual patient

External links

• The rise of the e-patient, Lee Rainie from the Pew Internet and American Life Project presentation at the Medical Library Association, Oct 7, 2009
• E-patients With a Disability or Chronic Disease, from the Pew Internet and American Life Project
• Association of Cancer Online Resources (ACOR), an aggregate of e-patient online communities for knowledge-sharing about cancer.
• Time Magazine article: "When the patient is a Googler"
• Who Cares Booklet by the Federal Trade Commission, a guide to health information
• Dave deBronkart: Meet e-Patient Dave, video at TED