The Internet is a new medium spread all over the world that has revolutionised both communication and medical information. In fact we have passed from the old academic system of communication to a new system for delivering and acquiring medical news. Doctors and patients are overwhelmed with information. They can get the news in the same way from the same place although they need to be guided and enlightened by qualified professionals. This is why publishing and searching on the net need special skills to be effective. This is also why patient power has increased and why they require updated and evidenced treatments from doctors. The scientific associations therefore can play a very important role in this new landscape.
The Birth of the INTERconnected NETwork
"Today, after more than a century of electric technology, we have extended our central nervous system itself in a global embrace, abolishing both space and time as far as our planet is concerned."
Marshall McLuhan, Understanding Media, 1964
Being in great advance of his time J.C.R. Licklider wrote in 1960 “It seems reasonable to envision, for a time 10 or 15 years hence, a 'thinking center' that will incorporate the functions of present-day libraries together with anticipated advances in information storage and retrieval." (1) But we had to wait for 1989 when, after a troubled history, the universal network called World Wide Web by Tim Berners-Lee came true. (2)
The Internet medium has some very strong peculiarities:
- It does not have the problems of scheduled programmes and can give news in real time
- It has unlimited space, digital records, multimedia contents, hypertext, interactivity, personalisation
- Specialised content and vertical portals
- Local information. It lets us go from the globabl to the local net: glocalisation
- Internet does not build in advance a representation of its audience
- It is in favour of the law of demand rather than that of supply
- It is a medium built on the idea of self-government, professionalism, and energy.
The New Landscape of Information
The communication of scientific information has changed in the last few years. Whereas in the last century there was a clear difference between academic and non-academic communication on science, the Internet has changed our approach to medical information. The World Wide Web has become a colossal online community and close collaboration among professionals across different continents has become a necessity. About 48% of people living in Europe use Internet (40% in 2007) with a use growth of 266% from 2000 to 2008 and a European Union Internet penetration of 55.6% (Nov 2007). (4), Figures 1-2
This has led to the globalisation of medical information. However, contrary to all expectations this worldwide connection has led to the so-called “information paradox”: doctors are overwhelmed with information and yet have problems in finding the information they need when they need it.
Globalisation of medical information is very valuable but in some cases exposes some weak products to strong competitors such as media or industry which can condition information. This is why we often have biased misleading opinions quite difficult to understand.
One other important effect on medical literature is a more direct and rapid transfer of information; in fact medical authors may even communicate directly with readers. Moreover, not many intermediates may be needed for this.
Information and Practice: a new management
On the one hand there is more and more pressure on doctors to base their treatments on evidence. There is awareness that doctors cannot work effectively without support from organised information and decision-making tools (such as clinical evidence and guidelines). On the other hand there is the rise of patient power because patients have access to the same information as doctors via search engines on the web (5). However this kind of information is not organised and oriented; it is information requiring the clinical competence of doctors (3).
In this landscape there is an increasing value of medical practice on basic research. This is why we must have a strong doctor-patient partnership based on clinical evidence. Everybody from everywhere can access the web and there are new varieties of writing such as the weblog that can go from a simple daily diary to a new form of medical journalism. This can be both exciting and misleading.
Again the web can play a fundamental role in this process since the web site is the window for every scientific association and is a point of contact for professionals and for patients. A useful and productive role can come from reliable subjects such as Institutions and Scientific Societies.
Continuing Education for Healthcare Professionals
Continuing education is a new and frequent use of the Internet. You can find web-based online educational packages, software-based portfolios, lifelong learning at work, workplace based research (surveys, registers), e-libraries, scientific societies, universities and other providers collaboratively underpinning European credits for healthcare professionals.
E-Health
E-health is a fundamental part of this evolution. A new welfare state where the "e" of e-health stands not only for electronic, but especially for efficiency, enhanced quality of care, empowerment of consumers and patients, encouragement of a new relationship between the patient and the health professional, extension of the health care beyond its conventional boundaries, easy to use and, last but not least, excitement.
Writing for the Web
Reading text from computer screens is more arduous than reading from paper. When you want to write for the web the golden rule is: the message must be simple and clear. The simpler the better.
Remember that news is live. In fact it can even change at any moment since users can (should) intervene actively. But the fundamental peculiarity of the web is multimediality (the possibility to have together images, sounds and documents) and hypertext (linked blocks of words, images, and sounds). So use them! The reader can access information in various forms, as he wishes, and with great availability.
Finally web site usability is important. This quality attribute assesses how easy user interfaces are to use and confers reliability and credibility.
Stanford guidelines for web credibility
- Make it easy for visitors to confirm the accuracy of your information
- Show that your organisation is legitimate by providing details
- Highlight your expertise
- Convey your trust worthiness
- Make it easy for visitors to contact you
- Use a consistent, professional design
- Your site should be user-friendly and be useful
- Keep your content updated
- Use restraint with promotion
- Avoid all errors (even spelling, broken links)
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