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Talk to Your Doctor Before Going Online

Suggested lead: If you use the Internet to search for medical information, you might want to ask you doctor's opinion about what you find. Tom Britt has more.

A new study shows patients are far ahead of physicians when it comes to using the World Wide Web. Duke University Medical Center gastroenterologist Dr. J. Barry O'Connor recently completed a study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association. O'Connor says 26 percent of the patients he interviewed have used the Internet for medical information, and 60 percent say they plan to do so. O'Connor says physicians need to become web-wise so they can make recommendations to their patients on where to go for accurate information. O'Connor says doctors could find that recommending a web site can be more useful than providing a pamphlet at the office.

"You can get a greater deal of depth on the web because the volume of information is so much greater. This kind of depth is difficult to get in a simple handout that you give to your patients in the waiting room."

O'Connor also has a word of caution for patients who use the web. He says you should hold off on implementing any of the advice you find there until you can check it out for accuracy with your own physician. I'm Tom Britt.

O'Connor says there are two uses for the web as a source for medical information.

Cut 2...see him...:18 . . . (Preview this in a WAV file in 16-bit mono.)

"One is before you see the doctor so you can be more educated and get a greater benefit from your doctor visit, because you know more going in. And number two - and I would like to see this one becoming more prevalent - is for your doctor to give you recommendations to go to specific web sites after you see him."