News & Events > Using electronic media

A survey published in the New England Journal of Medicine this week shows that despite the growing popularity of the Internet, American's put more trust in the health expertise of their doctors. The study found that trust in web-based sources of information has declined slightly and that many people are using the Internet as a first source for health information before discussing questions with their doctors.

Krū Research is a global think tank, based in the US, that is focused on "empowered patients" - those who are increasingly using digital technologies and communicating with peers to actively manage their health. They are offering two free download guides about using Twitter and YouTube for e-Patient Communications. You will need to sign up to their newsletter mailing list in order to gain access to the documents.

A new survey from the CDC's National Center for Health Statistics in the US reports that women are more likely than men to use the internet to find health information - with 58% of women and 43% men going online to look up health information in the past 12 months. Women were also more likely to use internet chat rooms, communicate with a health professional by email and use the Internet to book appointments.

Liberal Democrat shadow health secretary Norman Lamb has called for NHS Connecting for Health to be scrapped, the Care Records Service to be abandoned, and Choose and Book to be revamped as a simple online booking system. The MP has set out his proposals in a document, The NHS: a liberal blueprint, which the party says is not formal party policy but Lamb's vision of a decentralised NHS.

About 51% of U.S. adults went online to look up health information last year, according to a new report from Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's National Center for Health Statistics. Researchers found that adults ages 18 to 49 were more likely than older adults to seek health information online and women were slightly more likely than men to use the Internet for discussing health topics in online chats and researching health information.