The usage of social media encouraged patients' active participation in medical decision-making: cross-sectional survey (Preprint)

Abstract

IntroductionThe rapid advance of information technology since the end of twentieth century has deeply influenced the ways people gather health information to use as references for their medical decision-making. Accordingly, conversation is the core of SDM, and patients are encouraged to play a more active role as compared to the traditional paternalistic physician-patient relationship of the past. Since patients started to take an active role in medical decision-making, SDM has been frequently suggested for physician-patient relationship in teaching and research activities. As compared to the two extremes in medical decision-making-paternalism (i.e. physicians make the decision and patients play a passive role) and individual autonomy (i.e. patients make the decision and physicians play a passive role), SDM is usually regarded as the intermediate position which not only advocates that patients' active participation in medical decision-making be respected, but also that the physicians' responsibility in decisionmaking process be required [4][5][6].Patients' participation in medical decision-making has been increasing over time [7]. Widely available modern information technology has dramatically changed peoples' access to medical information, shifting access from non-interactive and traditional media, such as newspaper, magazine, television, radio and so on, to that of the interactive, web-2.0 internet-based social media such as Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp, LINE and the like. Studies have overwhelmingly pointed out the association between health information in the media [12][13][14] and the usage of medical treatments and interventions, not only in the intensive and critical care medical encounters [15], but also in those of ambulatory care [16].Given that online health information indeed changes people's medical decision-making [17], incorrect online health information can result in a heavy burden in medical encounters