By Hilaire Fong
Daily Bruin Contributor
While only 3 percent of doctors in America accessed the Internet
in 1995, that number jumped to more than 90 percent last year,
doctor George Lundberg said at a lecture Friday.
“The Internet is doing basic medicine better, faster and
cheaper, while encouraging patients to take charge of their health
using fabulous information,” Lundberg said.
More than 100 people gathered to hear the effects of the
Internet on medical practices in a lecture presented by the
Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicines on Friday.
The lecture was the fifth of six lectures set up to commemorate
the School of Medicine’s 50th anniversary.
“The Internet is revolutionizing medicine education from
the college level and up,” said Lundberg, who served as
editor in chief of the Journal of the American Medical Association
and subsequently as editor in chief of Medscape, an Internet health
site.
“Doctors receive information more quickly and easily,
enabling them to learn and practice successfully,” he
continued.
Doctors can use the Internet to share information on the most
current medical issues, chat with and send e-mails to patients, he
said.
The Internet’s speed, affordability and ability to share
mass information are its main advantages, Lundberg said.
But he also warned that the Internet detrimentally affects the
quality of information, gives a false sense of security and allows
people to over-rate their knowledge because they think they have
good judgment.
“The Internet should be used to supplement and assist
medical practices, not take the place of doctors,” Lundberg
said. “Doctors should be the patients’ primary care
providers and advisors.”
Associate professor of clinical surgery Robert Cameron said the
Internet should be used for administrative purposes, such as
billing and Medicare requirements.
By getting the administrative work out of the way, he said,
patients will have more quality time to focus on the more important
issues with their doctors.
People should be responsible for their own health and they
should use the information online to answer basic questions before
seeing doctors, Lundberg said.
He added that patients should follow basic standards when
choosing a medical Web site to ensure credibility, including being
able to identify the author of the information, where that person
received the information from and how current the information
is.
If someone cannot find this information immediately, they should
not use the site, Lundberg said.