The Internet as a potential source of information about radiological procedures for patients

The purposes of this study were to determine what percentage of patients in a typical radiology outpatient setting own or have access to a computer wi th internet capabilities and how many of these patients would find an educa tional radiology website useful. During a 3-month period, surveys were give n to all adult outpatients undergoing computed tomography. The survey asked 4 questions: (1) Do you own a computer?, (2) If you own a computer, does i t have Internet access?, (3) If you do not own a computer, do you have acce ss to a computer with Internet capabilities?, and (4) If we provide helpful information regarding preparation for and the conduct of various radiologi cal procedures on the Internet, would you use it? Four hundred surveys were collected. Two hundred one of the respondents (50.3%) owned a computer; 18 9 of the 201 (94.0%) had Internet access on their computer or had access to another computer with Internet capabilities. One hundred ninety-nine of th e 400 respondents (49.8%) did not own a computer, 57 of these (28.6%) had a ccess to a computer and the Internet. Of the 246 of those with Internet acc ess, 205 (83.3%) indicated that they would use a website that provided help ful information regarding radiological examinations. The Internet is an exc ellent resource for educational information for patients about various radi ological procedures. This study showed that 61.5% of patients had access to the Internet, and 83.3% of these would use such a site. It is likely that these numbers will increase with the rapid growth of the Internet and the s teadily increasing number of homes with computers. Copyright (C) 2000 by W. B. Saunders Company.