Who’s the doctor? physicians’ perception of internet informed patients in India

Abstract

Internet health information seeking can potentially alter physician-patient interactions, which in turn can influence healthcare delivery. Investigating physicians’ perceptions about internet-informed patients is important for understanding this phenomenon in countries like India, where this is a relatively recent trend. We conducted a qualitative study to this effect, conceptualizing internet health information access as a disintermediation process, and examining this phenomenon through the dimensions of meanings ascribed, power dynamics and social norms. We found that physicians’ perceptions about internet informed patients and their interactions with these patients were largely adversarial. However, some physicians viewed the phenomenon as inevitable. They developed methods that leveraged patients’ internet access for the purpose of increasing patient awareness and self-efficacy. We conceptualize the new role of physicians as apomediation, and present recommendations for design and implementation of health information platforms in countries such as India, where power dynamics form a salient part of physician-patient interactions.