The Internet as an adjunct for pediatric primary care.
OBJECTIVE
This review highlights recent publications on the use of the Internet as it relates to pediatric primary care, including its application to the pediatrician, teen, pediatric patient, and patients' parents. A brief overview of early work is introduced.


RESULTS
The Internet has become a tool to expand the reach of preventive interventions, including school-based online pediatric health education. Although research continues to describe barriers to the adoption of online resources, recent reports highlight newer applications, including user-generated content (i.e. social networking sites), and the impact on teens and their health. There are concerns and benefits of Web 2.0 and the teen population, with adolescents at risk online yet also learning about their health online. Internet referrals, prescriptions for information, and online assessment methods have had varied success to date. There have been some studies of e-learning and online continuing medical education having an impact on clinical decision making, but there is a need for more research on the electronic medical record as it relates to the practicing pediatrician and the Internet at the point of care.


CONCLUSIONS
The Internet is more than an information repository and continues to affect the lives and health of the pediatric population, parents, and providers. The growth of and changes to the Internet over time bring online innovations that have yet to be studied.
Kind
Terry
T
Division of General and Community Pediatrics, Children's National Medical Center, The George Washington University School of Medicine, Washington, DC, USA. tkind@cnmc.org
D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D003194:Computer-Assisted Instruction / Q000379:methods; D006266:Health Education / Q000379:methods*; D006293:Health Promotion / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D020407:Internet; D010290:Parents; D010353:Patient Education as Topic / Q000379:methods; D010372:Pediatrics / Q000379:methods*; D011320:Primary Health Care / Q000379:methods*