What patients see online: assessing the online identities of Pennsylvania dermatologists.
Dermatol Online J
; 25(9)2019 Sep 15.
Article
de En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-31738838
ABSTRACT
INTRODUCTION:
Patients use the internet to search for health-related information. We sought to characterize the information that patients find when searching for dermatologists on Google.METHODS:
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Physician Comparable Downloadable File was utilized to identify all Medicare-participating dermatologists practicing in Pennsylvania (PA). A custom Google-based search engine was used to search each dermatologist. Up to the top 10 results for each physician were then sorted into (1) physician, hospital, or healthcare system, (2) third-party, (3) social media, (4) academic journal articles, or (5) other.RESULTS:
Within the CMS, 519 health care providers (53.9% male, 46.1% female) self-identified as dermatologists practicing in PA. At least one search result was obtained for each physician (4,963 total search results). About 30.6% (1,519) search results were hospital, health system, or physician-controlled websites, and 26.6% (1,318) were third-party websites (1,318; 26.6%). Social media websites accounted for 601 (12.1%) hits whereas peer-reviewed academic journal websites generated 135 (2.7%) results. One-way chi-square analysis showed domains were not randomly distributed across the five categories (P<0.0001).CONCLUSION:
Dermatologists should be better aware of their digital presence and the strategies to better control their online identity.
Recherche sur Google
Collection:
01-internacional
Base de données:
MEDLINE
Sujet principal:
Internet
/
Dermatologues
Limites:
Female
/
Humans
/
Male
Pays/Région comme sujet:
America do norte
Langue:
En
Journal:
Dermatol Online J
Sujet du journal:
DERMATOLOGIA
Année:
2019
Type de document:
Article