Virtual connections: Internet health care.

@article{citeulike:903027, abstract = {Shortly before his death in 1995, Kenneth B. Schwartz, a cancer patient at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), founded The Kenneth B. Schwartz Center at MGH. The Schwartz Center is a nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting and advancing compassionate health care delivery that provides hope to the patient, support to caregivers, and encourages the healing process. The Center sponsors the Schwartz Center Rounds, a monthly multidisciplinary forum where caregivers reflect on important psychosocial issues faced by patients, their families, and their caregivers, and gain insight and support from fellow staff members. The 20th century success of the Internet is now translating into changes in 21st century medical practice. The changes brought about by the Internet have at once facilitated and complicated the practice of medicine. Physicians and patients are challenged to take advantage of the increased opportunities afforded by Internet access while being mindful of its drawbacks and the limitations to virtual communication. The case of Karen Parles, one of the authors, is presented. Karen developed locally advanced lung cancer and used the Internet to research her diagnosis. She found the information on lung cancer limited and confusing, and, in response, developed a website devoted to empowering lung cancer patients in their search for information and support (http://www.lungcanceronline.org). Here we discuss issues surrounding patients' use of the Internet for health information and communication with health care providers. The value of information-seeking as a coping mechanism is debated, and concerns are raised regarding confidentiality of electronic communications and the logistics of physicians adopting e-mail as a mechanism for communicating with patients.}, address = {Department of Medicine, Division of Hematology-Oncology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Cox 548, 100 Blossom Street, Boston, MA 02114-2617, USA. rpenson@partners.org}, author = {Penson, R. T. and Benson, R. C. and Parles, K. and Chabner, B. A. and Lynch, T. J. }, citeulike-article-id = {903027}, issn = {1083-7159}, journal = {Oncologist}, keywords = {cancer, informatics, online, provider, supportgroup}, number = {6}, pages = {555--568}, posted-at = {2006-10-18 05:08:18}, priority = {2}, title = {Virtual connections: Internet health care.}, url = {http://view.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12490743}, volume = {7}, year = {2002} }

TY - JOUR ID - citeulike:903027 L3 - citeulike-article-id:903027 N2 - Shortly before his death in 1995, Kenneth B. Schwartz, a cancer patient at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), founded The Kenneth B. Schwartz Center at MGH. The Schwartz Center is a nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting and advancing compassionate health care delivery that provides hope to the patient, support to caregivers, and encourages the healing process. The Center sponsors the Schwartz Center Rounds, a monthly multidisciplinary forum where caregivers reflect on important psychosocial issues faced by patients, their families, and their caregivers, and gain insight and support from fellow staff members. The 20th century success of the Internet is now translating into changes in 21st century medical practice. The changes brought about by the Internet have at once facilitated and complicated the practice of medicine. Physicians and patients are challenged to take advantage of the increased opportunities afforded by Internet access while being mindful of its drawbacks and the limitations to virtual communication. The case of Karen Parles, one of the authors, is presented. Karen developed locally advanced lung cancer and used the Internet to research her diagnosis. She found the information on lung cancer limited and confusing, and, in response, developed a website devoted to empowering lung cancer patients in their search for information and support (http://www.lungcanceronline.org). Here we discuss issues surrounding patients' use of the Internet for health information and communication with health care providers. The value of information-seeking as a coping mechanism is debated, and concerns are raised regarding confidentiality of electronic communications and the logistics of physicians adopting e-mail as a mechanism for communicating with patients. IS - 6 JF - Oncologist SN - 1083-7159 AD - Department of Medicine, Division of Hematology-Oncology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Cox 548, 100 Blossom Street, Boston, MA 02114-2617, USA. rpenson@partners.org EP - 568 TI - Virtual connections: Internet health care. VL - 7 SP - 555 KW - cancer KW - informatics KW - online KW - provider KW - supportgroup AU - Penson, RT AU - Benson, RC AU - Parles, K AU - Chabner, BA AU - Lynch, TJ PY - 2002/// UR - http://view.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12490743 ER -