---
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://www.pewresearch.org/staff/susannah-fox/"
url: "https://www.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://www.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)

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?