Impact of Patient Health Education on the Screening for Disease Test-Outcomes: The Case of Using Educational Materials From the Internet and Online Health Communities

Abstract

Screening for diseases is a medical process to predict, prevent, detect, and cure a disease in people at high risk. However, it is limited in the quality and accuracy of the outcomes. The reason for this is the lack of long-term data about the health condition of the patient. Launching modern information and communication technology in the screening process has shown promise of improving the screening outcomes. A previous study has shown that patient education can positively impact the patient behavior face to a disease and can empower the patient to adopt a healthy lifestyle and thus avoid certain diseases. Offering medical education to the patient can positively impact screening outcomes since educated and empowered patients are more aware of certain diseases and can collect significant information. This can minimize the rate of false positive as well as false negative screening results. This chapter analyzes how medical education can contribute to improving screening outcomes.