Locus Of Care Essay

Not only health information but also healthcare services are increasingly available online (Rains, 2008). As the locus of care is changing and the web is increasingly accessible, online and doctor-rating websites start to occur playing a notable role for patients in order to make an informed decision (Galizzi et al., 2012). A study, conducted by Murray, Burns, Tai, Lai and Nazareth (2005) investigated the Interactive Health Communication Applications (IHCA), which showed positive influence on knowledge, social support, clinical outcomes, self-efficacy and behavioural outcome. Similarly, those sites or information sources which are interactive, interoperable, personally engaging, contextually tailored are more likely to improve the quality in

Medical information collected from the web is popular among patients and doctors, moreover the majority of the physicians have web informed patients in the daily practice (Podichetty, Booher, Whitfield & Biscup, 2006). Depending on the reaction of both sides, the care can tend in the direction of a more patient-focused healthcare where the locus of control is shifting (Hawn,

When exchanging health-related information in a digital form the data loss could be prevented, thus it results in more complete patient data, increasing in this way the change to avoid mistreatments. Regarding patient management, overuse, misuse or underuse of treatments can lead to mistreatment, thus increasing the hospitalization length, reducing the quality of care, as well as creating financial burdens (Øvretveit, 2009). Black and colleagues (2011) raised some doubts about EHR, as it could affect, reduce the depth of the doctor-patient relationship, therefore raising the question of