Patient Health E-ducation: Changing Dynamics in the Physician-Patient Relationship

Abstract

The physician-patient relationship plays a significant role in health care, having the potential to considerably affect the health of the patients involved. In Western societies, physicians have traditionally maintained virtually exclusive control over medical information and thus dominant positions in physician-patient interactions. However, this situation is changing as the Internet has begun to play a substantial role in health care, providing a wealth of easily accessible health information and enabling patients to take more active roles in their owncare. At a societal level, the Internet is facilitating a shift in the physician-patient relationship toward mutual contribution and partnership and away from the dominance and submission common in the past; at the individual level, changes in the relationship may be more directly dependent on both parties' views of and reactions to the health information provided.