A Content Analysis of Online Physician Information

Abstract

The popularization of the Internet reduces the communication cost of physicians’ information. It is easier for customers obtaining the online physicians’ information to make medical decisions. Thus, this study aims to analyze the disclosure of physicians’ information on the Internet, find out the contents, numbers, and the characteristic of physicians’ personal information and professional information, and understand how the information describes physicians’ image. The sample size is 4,500 which collected from the Google search engine, and the study framework contains the types of website, the physicians’ personal information, the physicians’ professional information, and the additional descriptions about physicians’ image. This study conducts the content analysis, and the results are shown to provide some suggestions to the physician information seekers and physician information providers.

Keywords

• Online Physician Information
• Physician Information Disclosure
• Choosing a Physician
• Choosing a Doctor
• Content Analysis