Access Patterns of a Clinic-Based Health Information Web Site for International Travelers

A large national telephone survey conducted in 2000 by the Pew Internet & American Life Project estimated that 52 million American adults used the Internet to acquire health information. Based on population estimates, these users comprised 25% of all adults. The growth of online health information coupled with increasing Internet access has led to the emergence of consumer informatics as an outbranching from traditional medical informatics. The ease of international communications afforded by the Internet holds great promise for consumers in the realm of travel medicine. For example, an early study found that a Web site hosted by an international travel medicine clinic was accessed by client computers in more than 100 countries. Nevertheless, relatively little research has been conducted on consumer informatics in travel medicine. An important aspect of consumer informatics involves studying consumers' needs for health information. The purpose of this study was to perform a descriptive analysis of overall use and content-specific access patterns for health information provided on a clinic-based Web site for international travelers.