---
"title": "Frequently Asked (But Unanswered) Questions About E-Patients"
"description": "As I've written before, I love questions. It's an honor to be handed someone's nascent idea and to help them shape it (which is what I think a question really is). But this time I'm asking for YOUR input."
"date": "2010-05-11"
"authors":
  -
    "name": "Susannah Fox"
    "job_title": "Former Researcher"
    "link": "https://alpha.pewresearch.org/pewresearch-org/staff/susannah-fox/"
"url": "https://alpha.pewresearch.org/pewresearch-org/internet/2010/05/11/frequently-asked-but-unanswered-questions-about-e-patients/"
"categories":
  - "Health Policy"
  - "Medicine & Health"
---

# Frequently Asked (But Unanswered) Questions About E-Patients

As I’ve written [before](http://e-patients.net/archives/2009/11/the-pew-internethealth-faq.html), I love questions. It’s an honor to be handed someone’s nascent idea and to help them shape it (which is what I think a question really is). But this time I’m asking for **YOUR** input.

These excellent questions were sent to me by Liav Hertsman and his colleagues at Tel Aviv University, who hoped that I had all the answers.

**If only.**

I can tackle the first one [on my own](https://alpha.pewresearch.org/pewresearch-org/internet/Reports/2009/8-The-Social-Life-of-Health-Information.aspx), but I need help with the others. **If you have any tips to share — observations, journal articles, researchers interested in similar questions — please add them in the [comments on e-patients.net](http://e-patients.net/archives/2010/05/frequently-asked-but-unanswered-questions-about-e-patients.html#comments).**

1\. How would you describe the typical online active e-patient in terms of demographics?\
2\. In which stages of the diseases do e-patients usually need medical information the most? Why?\
3\. In which stages do they search for information about drugs?\
4\. How substantial is the e-patients’ drug search in comparison with their overall search about health?\
5\. How dominant and reliable is user-generated content (UGC) information in the eyes of e-patients?

![](http://e-patients.net/wp-includes/js/tinymce/plugins/wordpress/img/trans.gif){.align}

6\. Do e-patients who are interested in UGC also tend to cross-check the information, using professional sites or do they tend to rely solely on the UGC? Why?\
7\. What do the e-patients value more, specific information or general information? Is it treatment stage related?\
8\. In your opinion, should a health site offer diverse information or focus only on one area of expertise? Why?\
9\. What tools are important to have on a health site (i.e. communities, experts’ reviews, doctors’ ratings, drugs’ ratings, etc.)? Should a health site offer several tools? Why?\
10\. Do e-patients prefer a one-stop-shop site, where they can find every information related to health and every tool they need, or do they prefer to gather information from several sites, each with a specific specialization?\
11\. What causes an e-patient to return to a specific health site?