Patients use of, attitudes to, and beliefs about web based care planning (GPMPs, TCAs and subsequent reviews)

The introduction of Chronic Disease Management (CDM) Medicare items and use of information technology (IT) has had an impact on GPs, patients and health professionals. As e-health initiatives are implemented, concerns have been noted about patients' variability in computer and mobile phone ownership, skills and use. The aim of this research was to investigate patients' use of, attitudes to and beliefs about webbased care planning, using a combination of questionnaire and interviews. Similar levels of computer and mobile phone ownership were reported. Although two-thirds of the cohort of 99 participants used the Internet, hardly any (1%) used the Internet to upload their glucose readings and very few (0.05%) 'often' used their mobile phones to receive and/or send SMS messages. Conclusion: the reluctance by patients to become directly involved in web-based health records might be due in part to their limited use of the Internet and mobile phones, although other factors also need to be explored.