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"Info prescriptions" encourage patients to educate themselves

Patient Safety Monitor Alert, September 8, 2004

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Parents are more likely to use the Internet to learn more about their child's healthcare when their pedicatrician specifically instructs them to do so, according to a University of Iowa study.

Researchers found that the nearly no-cost, quick act of writing an "information prescription" is an effective way to put people in touch with quality health information on the Internet. The finding, based on a study of pediatricians and families at one hospital, appears in the September issue of the Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine (Vol. 158, No. 9).

The randomized control study involved two groups of parents at Children's Hospital of Iowa. All the parents first were surveyed about their Internet use before their child's regular office visit. Then half the parents were randomly assigned to receive information prescriptions during the visit while the other half did not get these prescriptions. Two to three weeks later, both groups were surveyed by phone about their post-visit Internet use.

Based on participants' self-reporting, the group that received the information prescription was more likely than the other group to use the Internet for health information in general and specifically for child health questions. One of every three parents receiving prescriptions said they used it. In addition, 66 percent of the health-related Web sites used by parents in the prescription group were sites recommended by the pediatricians.

The pediatricians participating in the study could recommend any sites they wished. However, the prescription included a pre-printed list of four sites at the American Academy of Pediatrics, MEDLINE Plus, General Pediatrics.com and the Virtual Hospital (Web addresses listed below).

The prescription also included tips for finding quality Web health care sites and listed local institutions that provide free Internet access. A quality Web site follows standards and includes what D'Alessandro and colleagues in her field consider indicators of quality.

"We hear from patients and families that they're having trouble finding good health care information on the Internet, and we hear from health care providers that they think the families they treat are using some questionable information," says Donna D'Alessandro, MD, the study's principal investigator and UI associate professor of pediatrics. "Using Internet prescriptions to guide families to good information will help solve these problems for both groups."

Internet sites listed on the Children's Hospital of Iowa "information prescription" included:

• the Academy of Pediatrics at www.aap.org 
• MEDLINE Plus through the National Library of Medicine at www.medlineplus.org
• General Pediatrics.com (developed by D'Alessandro) at www.generalpediatrics.com
  

A checklist developed by D'Alessandro for evaluating health information on the Internet is available at the Virtual Hospital at: www.vh.org/pediatric/patient/pediatrics/cqqa/internethealth.html.

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