[The Internet in medicine. A help, a problem, a cause of errors...?].
The Internet has been a breakthrough for Professional Medical Training. Medline databases are increasingly being used by the scientific community at large. Patients have also started to use the Internet as a source of information on their illnesses, and look in the web for a second opinion. This paper shows the advantages derived for the patients from using the Internet as well as the risks involved from a poorly understood, even not scientifically validated information. The Urology Associations themselves should take responsibility of the web sites in a unambiguous way, by including evidence-based medicine, offering assistance to those patients who want to compare their specialist's opinion with that obtainable in the Internet, and with the doctors themselves directing those who show a real interest to the most suitable web sites.
Solé Balcells
F J
FJ
Servicio de Urología, Fundación Puigvert I.U.N.A. Barcelona.
D003142:Communication; D004501:Education, Medical; D006266:Health Education; D006801:Humans; D033181:Information Dissemination; D020407:Internet; D016239:MEDLINE; D008490:Medical Informatics; D008511:Medicine; D010353:Patient Education as Topic; D010361:Patients / Q000523:psychology; D010506:Periodicals as Topic; D011643:Publishing; D011781:Quackery