More and more patients are using the Internet not just to seek
information from various sources, but also to empower themselves
by providing their own online sources of health information,
establishing and moderating online support groups, and using
e-mail to communicate with their physicians.
However, not all patients in all countries have equal access
to health information on the Internet whatever the source. In
many nations, including the U.S. and Europe, large portions of
the population do not have access to the Internet because of a
lack of technical infrastructure or for economic reasons.
To have true patient empowerment, more equity between the
"have" and "have-nots" needs to be
established. Only through a combination of Access + Quality will
we achieve this Equity (i.e., Access+Quality=Equity).
While we may not be able to do much about the Access part of
this Equity equation, we should do more about the Quality part.
Much attention has been paid to commercial health websites with
regard to privacy, ethics, and information quality guidelines
and codes of practice (e.g., the Internet Healthcare Coalition's
e-Health Code of Ethics). But, have we given enough thought to
developing guidelines for patient-driven online activities?
