Doctors are spending more time online, with more of their
Internet activities devoted to professional endeavors, according to the results
of a new survey conducted by the MD Net Guide and Oncology Net Guide series of
journals.
Fully 50% of survey participants reported spending at least
eight hours a week online; less than 10% spend two hours or less using the
Internet.
Other survey results included:
- About 60% of respondents spend at least two-fifths of
their time online working on professional activities.
- 38% of all respondents, and nearly half of those in
private practice, reported having a practice Web site.
- 88% of participants considered the Internet an important
source of specialty-specific information, while 47% considered it to be very
important.
- The most common online searches were for clinical
information (reported by 85% of respondents), online CME (70%) and drug
information (68%); only 30% of physicians reported using the Internet to search
for health IT information.
- Whereas 70% of respondents participate in online CME, physicians still prefer other sources
of education—58% of respondents earn less than 20% of their total credits
online, and only 14% earn more that 60% of CME credits this way.
- One in five respondents did not own a PDA or handheld
computer, and only 31% of physicians reported using their handheld to access the
Web.
- Surprisingly, 70% of respondents spend less than two hours
a week “writing and sending e-mails to patients, colleagues, insurance
companies, etc.”