Prevalence of Internet use amongst an elective spinal surgery outpatient population.
Authors
Baker, Joseph FDevitt, Brian M
Kiely, Paul D
Green, James
Mulhall, Kevin J
Synnott, Keith A
Poynton, Ashley R
Affiliation
Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Mater Misericordiae Hospital, Eccles Street, Dublin 7, Ireland. joseph.f.baker@gmail.comIssue Date
2010-10MeSH
Access to InformationAdult
Aged
Ambulatory Surgical Procedures
Female
Humans
Internet
Ireland
Low Back Pain
Male
Middle Aged
Patient Education as Topic
Prevalence
Questionnaires
Spinal Diseases
Metadata
Show full item recordCitation
Prevalence of Internet use amongst an elective spinal surgery outpatient population. 2010, 19 (10):1776-9 Eur Spine JJournal
European spine journal : official publication of the European Spine Society, the European Spinal Deformity Society, and the European Section of the Cervical Spine Research SocietyDOI
10.1007/s00586-010-1377-yPubMed ID
20361342Additional Links
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20361342Abstract
Nationally 62% of individuals in Ireland have internet access. Previous published work has suggested that internet use is higher among those with low back pain. We aimed to determine the levels of internet access and use amongst an elective spinal outpatient population and determine what characteristics influence these. We distributed a self-designed questionnaire to patients attending elective spinal outpatient clinics. Data including demographics, history of surgery, number of visits, level of satisfaction with previous consultations, access to the internet, possession of health insurance, and details regarding use of the internet to research one's spinal complaint were collected. 213 patients completed the questionnaire. 159 (75%) had access to the internet. Of this group 48 (23%) used the internet to research their spinal condition. Increasing age, higher education level, and possession of health insurance were all significantly associated with access to the internet (p < 0.05). A higher education level predicted greater internet use while possession of insurance weakly predicted non-use (p < 0.05). In our practice, internet access is consistent with national statistics and use is comparable to previous reports. Approximately, one quarter of outpatients will use the internet to research their spinal condition. Should we use this medium to disseminate information we need to be aware some groups may not have access.Item Type
ArticleLanguage
enISSN
1432-0932ae974a485f413a2113503eed53cd6c53
10.1007/s00586-010-1377-y