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The aim of this qualitative study was to investigate the influence of the Internet on the patient-- physician relationship as perceived by physicians. We used a self-administered questionnaire about physician perception on the use of the Internet by patients and about whether that use interferes with the doctor--patient relationship. Of 116 physicians responding, 85.3% reported that their patients accessed the Internet and that 92% used that information in a following visit. When a patient seeks information on the Internet, the medical visit takes longer, according to 46.6% of the respondents, and 42.2% stated that patients brought information that was not known by the doctors themselves. Overall, 56.9% of the physicians thought that the Internet helped the doctor--patient relationship, 27.6% thought it interfered with the relationship, and 15.5% believed that the Internet had a negative impact. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article discusses the proliferation of medical quackery and fraud appearing and disappearing daily on the Internet. The customers of these scams, made vulnerable by disease or the prospect of death, use the Internet to buy products that would probably be ignored in other contexts. This vulnerability is linked to strenuous physical demands that compromise the ability to make decisions. The attempt to control the phenomenon of fraud as strictly rational, without taking into account the vulnerability of consumers who have little to lose and not considering their demands for comprehensive care, can lead to disappointing results, since these nostrums seem to be filling the gaps left by health care structures that have been insensitive to the immaterial nature of human fears. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: to identify the influence of the use of internet on medical practice and verify all changes about its use among gynecologists and obstetricians. Methods: a postal questionnaire was sent to 1.120 gynecologists and obstetricians of São Paulo city, 152 of which were returned, which represents a return rate of 13.6% and 6.1% of all the professionals of SOGESP. The quantitative analysis of the doctors' behavior related to the use of the internet has been made by calculation of averages, proportions, standard deviations and the chi- squared test. Four different groups have been determined by Cluster Analysis depending on the way this technology is used. Results: there was no relationship between age, sex and development of only Gynecology or Obstetrics related to use of internet. PhDs tend to use internet more. Wuth respect to the offning of medical services, receiving and sending exams through e-mail was the most common activity realized by the physicians. Conclusions: the gynecologists and obstetricians investigated in this research project use internet in their medical practice, for the updating of data collection, for communication with patients or offning their medical services by the Web. Although its use has been improved doctors are afraid of possible negative consequences regarding the physician-patient relationship and legal, economic and ethical consequences that this use may bring to clinical practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]