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The Internet and the oral healthcare professionals: potential and challenges of a new era
Author(s) -
Mattheos N
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
international journal of dental hygiene
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.674
H-Index - 38
eISSN - 1601-5037
pISSN - 1601-5029
DOI - 10.1111/j.1601-5037.2007.00248.x
Subject(s) - medicine , the internet , health professionals , health care , oral health , internet privacy , family medicine , world wide web , economic growth , computer science , economics
The Internet is increasingly used as a means of continuous education for healthcare practitioners. At the same time, a rapidly growing number of patients rely on the Internet for the search and acquisition of healthcare‐related information and services. This fact has introduced new challenges for the oral healthcare personnel, which must not only often face the misperceptions of ill‐informed patients but also be able to redirect them to quality sources of healthcare‐related information. Consequently, there is a great need for the whole oral healthcare team to further understand the potential and dangers of Internet‐based information. The present paper aimed to briefly discuss the major implications of Internet use from two distinct points of view:(a) potential and risks of Internet use for lifelong learning and quality assessment of the oral healthcare team and (b) potential and dangers from the Internet as a means of patients’ education.In particular this paper will review strategies of1 generic Internet search; 2 search within healthcare‐related databases; and 3 principles quality assessment of information and resources.