Background: Bariatric surgery is presented as the last treatment option for obesity. It
requires from all candidates a multidisciplinary evaluation and monitoring
throughout treatment. The non-adherence to follow-up with health care teams is
related to weight regain. It's possible that the use of internet influences the
doctor-patient relationship and patients replace medical care or information
provided by health professionals for information from the internet. Aim: Identify and analyze the pattern of internet use by patients after bariatric
surgery and check the influence of such use in attending medical appointments with
the multidisciplinary team. Method: Electronic questionnaire available on the Internet was used to verify patient´s
patterns of Internet use and its influence on in attending multidisciplinary care
after surgery. Results: Of the 103 participants, 95% were female, 64% married, 59% with children and 54%
with higher education. The mean age was 35.69 years and the mean duration of
performing surgery, 11.74 months. The surgical technique that prevailed was
Roux-en-Y gastric by-pass (90.3%), the local monitoring concentrated in the
private care (93.2%). In the preoperative, most participants consulted more than
three times with the surgeon (n=81), nutritionists (n=70), psychologist (n=70).
After the surgery, p most patients maintained monitoring with the surgeon and
nutritionist. Concerning the internet use, 51.5% accessed the internet in search
of information about health and bariatric surgery every day. Facebook and search
tools were the most used sites. Conclusion - Data showed the influence of the information contained on the Internet and the
adherence to multidisciplinary monitoring. This fact requires the team to consider
the use of the Internet as a variable that may interfere and must be handled
during follow-up. It is suggested that an active participation of professionals on
their websites and social networks and the diversification of services and
interventions to stimulate follow-up after surgery.
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