| Abstract | he Internet is an evolving resource for health-care information. However little information exists on
providers' and other web patrons' usage of the 'medical' Internet. This study aims to characterize the users
of a large paediatric link collection, describe their objectives and track their use of the information
provided by the site. We utilized a paediatric link collection called the Pediatric Points of Interest (POI)
and a combination of a questionnaire, unique user identifier and link-tracking system to collect data about
POI patrons' demographics and Internet resource utilization. During a five week period, 5216 individuals
visited the POI and requested 36,187 links. The majority of users had less than one year of Internet
experience and were first-time visitors to the POI. More than 83% of users were from North America.
Medical professionals were more likely to return to the POI during the study period and reported visiting
the POI mainly for 'medical education', 'research', 'resource identification', and 'disease specific
information'; they proceeded primarily to the resource categories 'Medical Institutions and Agencies'
(32%) and 'Professional Education and Resources' (28%). Laypersons expressed the greatest interest in
'disease specific information' and 'patient education' and most frequently visited the category. 'Patient
Education' (42%). On average, users were able to identify resources related to their stated goals within
one level of searching. Health care providers and other web patrons are actively utilizing Internet sites to
seek medical information and are able to identify resources with a minimum of searching. |