Web-Based Information for Patients and Providers

Overview

The following chapter provides a review of the current literature on online healthcare information and its nexus to empowerment. More than ever, patients have new mechanisms to become informed about their conditions and treatment options. Providers bear a responsibility to understand and support emerging needs that may be driven by both underlying human psychology and by limited access to healthcare. The reader is presented herein to an interesting compilation of how the world wide web, social media, health informatics, AI, automated search tools and other technologies both promote and inhibit patient empowerment from a conceptual standpoint. The chapter concludes with a call to action echoed by many physicians: How can we ensure patients have available, reliable, high-quality health information that contributes to their empowerment?