Exploring Types of Information Sources Used When Choosing Doctors: Observational Study in an Online Health Care Community

Abstract

Background Patients attempt to make appropriate decisions based on their own knowledge when choosing a doctor. In this process, the first question usually faced is that of how to obtain useful and relevant information. This study investigated the types of information sources that are used widely by patients in choosing a doctor and identified ways in which the preferred sources differ in various situations. Objective This study aims to address the following questions: (1) What is the proportion in which each of the various information sources is used? (2) How does the information source preferred by patients in choosing a doctor change when there is a difference in the difficulty of medical decision making, in the level of the hospital, or in a rural versus urban situation? (3) How do information sources used by patients differ when they choose doctors with different specialties? Methods This study overcomes a major limitation in the use of the survey technique by employing data from the Good Doctor website, which is now China's leading online health care community, data which are objective and can be obtained relatively easily and frequently. Multinomial logistic regression models were applied to examine whether the proportion of use of these information sources changes in different situations. We then used visual analysis to explore the question of which type of information source patients prefer to use when they seek medical assistance from doctors with different specialties. Results The 3 main information sources were online reviews (OR), family and friend recommendations (FR), and doctor recommendations (DR), with proportions of use of 32.93% (559,345/1,698,666), 23.68% (402,322/1,698,666), and 17.48% (296,912/1,698,666), respectively. Difficulty in medical decision making, the hospital level, and rural-urban differences were significantly associated with patients’ preferred information sources for choosing doctors. Further, the sources of information that patients prefer to use were found to vary when they looked for doctors with different medical specialties. Conclusions Patients are less likely to use online reviews when medical decisions are more difficult or when the provider is not a tertiary hospital, the former situation leading to a greater use of online reviews and the latter to a greater use of family and friend recommendations. In addition, patients in large cities are more likely to use information from online reviews than family and friend recommendations. Among different medical specialties, for those in which personal privacy is a concern, online reviews are the most common source. For those related to children, patients are more likely to refer to family and friend recommendations, and for those related to surgery, they value doctor recommendations more highly. Our results can not only contribute to aiding government efforts to further promote the dissemination of health care information but may also help health care industry managers develop better marketing strategies.

Can online health information sources really improve patient satisfaction?

“…Specifically, patients who wanted to find a doctor would traditionally obtain health information from healthcare providers, mass media, or local community members, i.e., members of groups who are considered to have certain health knowledge (11). In recent years, the Internet has provided patients with a convenient way to broadly understand their disease and its prevention methods (12,13) and even how to choose the right doctor (14). In other words, online health information has become an important information source for medical decision-making (14,15).…”

“…In recent years, the Internet has provided patients with a convenient way to broadly understand their disease and its prevention methods (12,13) and even how to choose the right doctor (14). In other words, online health information has become an important information source for medical decision-making (14,15). The purpose of this study was to answer the following questions: (1) What is the impact of various sources of information on patient satisfaction?…”

“…A recent study by Zhang et al (14) pointed out that online patient reviews, family and friend recommendations, and doctor recommendations were three primary information sources that tended to be patients' preferred sources of information for choosing physicians based on their own circumstances. This study extends the results of Zhang et al (14) to further discuss whether online health information sources can really improve customer health-related decision-making and what the moderating effects are in different situations. Specifically, the study explores the impact of whether patients choose doctors through the online or other information sources (i.e., family and friend sources or doctor sources) on patient satisfaction.…”

The Evolving Role of Social Media in Pediatric Orthopaedics

“…Prior studies have shown that patients consider many sources, including peer recommendations and online reviews, when making medical decisions and choosing a provider. 22 It is possible that social media is a part of that equation, especially since higher social media engagement among orthopaedic surgeons is positively correlated with physician rating scores. 23,24 Future studies examining the digital engagement by specific types of posts can further elucidate exactly how social media assists in clinical care and patient education.…”

Choosing a Specialist: An Explanatory Study of Factors Influencing Patients in Choosing a Urologist

“…In the era of physician rating websites (PRW), Deng et al [5] even evaluated whether a physician's online efforts and their reputation had a relationship with the patient's choice of general practitioner [6]. There are certain limitations to the abovementioned studies, such as the interviewing of people who were not currently in need of a physician or specialist [3,7]. Others, who identified convenience as important for choosing a new PCD, were based on samples of patients who had left their previous PCD for exactly that reason [8,9].…”