WHAT DO PATIENTS WANT AND NOT WANT TO SEE ABOUT THEMSELVES ON THE COMPUTER SCREEN - A QUALITATIVE STUDY

Objective -To explore patients' views about what they would or would n ot like to read on the computer screen, and how this might be managed. Design -A qualitative study using semi-structured interviews with pat ients who had recently consulted, and who were representative of the a ge-sex structure of our practice population. Setting -Primary health c are, patients' homes. Patients -30 patients aged 18-89 years. Main out come measures -Patients were likely to state that information about li festyle (e.g. smoking and drinking) might be helpful to read on condit ion that it had been provided by the patients themselves, and not by a third party. Most patients would not want to read personal comments. Nearly half of the patients expressed concern about seeing a serious i llness on the screen, especially if it had not been fully discussed in advance. Over a third were concerned about seeing a mental illness li sted. They suggested that these labels were subjective, confusing, and likely to be rejected by patients. Conclusions -Doctors need to devel op and evaluate ways by which patients gain access to reading about th eir problems on desk-top computers, and devise strategies whereby this can be integrated constructively with information exchange in the con sultation.