Doctors are patients' first source of information. Ooh La La! a comparison of internet use in healthcare in US and France

 Following the development of the Internet in Health Care on both sides of the Atlantic, I've always been fascinated more by the similarities (unexpected)  than by the differences (expected) in behavior. It seems that what users actually do online may be more determined by a combination of the depth of their experience, ie total time spent online, age and sex, rather than their country of origin, if we're comparing Europe and the US.  Participants at our recent Health 2.0 Europe conference tended to focus in on the differences...To each her own or à chacun son goût. I still say that given all that does separate the two continents, the similarities of "health on the internet" behavior are  striking.

One question regarding Internet use by health care consumers which continues to interest and even preoccupy physicians of the two continents is the potential for the internet to replace them in the eyes of their patients, even though non-physicians intuitively know that this is not the case.

So, it is fascinating to note that two important data points came out two months apart, in the US and France, and with the same conclusions. March 4th, 2010 a letter to the editor of the New England Journal cited data demonstrating that patients in the US still prefer their doctors to the Internet, despite 10 years of "exposure" to the Web. Susannah Fox of Pew Foundation developed a reference-rich post on the theme demonstrating that while patients have repeatedly declared their attachment to doctors (earliest reference 1995), doctors always sound as though they're hearing it for the first time.

Let's compare some of the Pew foundation survey  data  with that of an Ipsos  phone survey of  1015 French adults (over 15) presented on May 4, 2010. The survey was undertaken at the initiative of the national association of French physicians (Cnom). I recognize that I am taking great liberties in making this comparison: the studies were not identical.  But they both demonstrate that patients trust their doctors.

US study

• 86% of all adults ask a health professional, such as a doctor.
• 68% of all adults ask a friend or family member.
• 57% of all adults consult the internet.
• 54% use books or other printed reference material.
• 33% contact their insurance provider.
• 5% use another source not mentioned in the list. 

French study

• 89% ask their physician
• 64% use the internet,
• 64% ask a friend or family member
• 63% ask  their pharmacist
• 55% would watch a TV program
• 33% would read magazines or books
• 32% would listen to radio 

And more comparisons:

• 61%  of Americans and  71% of  French have used the Internet for health purposes:  .
• 66% of US internet users and 53% of French internet users look for information about a specific disease or medical problem. 
• 41% of US internet and 37% of French users are interested in reading  stories from patients like themselves.

Let's share more French data from the Ipsos study:

• 85% trust their doctor as much as before the Internet; 10% trust them more thanks to Internet.
  70% consult Internet independently of a doctor's appointment. 10% before and 18% after
• 62% would be interested in reading their doctor's site or blog
• 34% tell their doctor about their use of the Internet. Of those, 31% get a negative reaction, and I imagine don't do it again...
• 28% (only) are aware of HON certification which was introduced officially end 2007. (There is little viral movement around certification in France).

So, to summarize, dear Doctors, patients prefer you IRL or not.