Internet and social media usage of orthopaedic patients: A questionnaire-based survey

Table 1 Questions designed to identify patients’ usage of internet and social media

Age

Sex

Occupation

Educational level

Place of residence

Hospital where the questionnaire was administered

Question 1: What’s your complaint?

Question 2: How long have you had this complaint?

Question 3: Have you ever been examined in an orthopaedic clinic?

Question 4: Have you ever had an orthopaedic surgery?

Question 5: Did the internet have an impact on your choice of this hospital?

Question 6: Which one(s) of the following had an impact on your choice of hospital? (you can select more than one option)

Question 7: Which one(s) of the following had an impact on your choice of physician? (you can select more than one option)

Question 8: Have you ever asked an orthopaedist his/her opinion about your disease using the internet?

Question 9: Which options do you prefer to ask an orthopaedist his/her opinion? (you can select more than one option)

Question 10: With which of the following you can describe the answers you were given? (you can select more than one option)

Question 11: Have you ever sent a friend request to an orthopaedist on Facebook?

Question 12: Do you have orthopaedist friends on Facebook?

Question 13: Do you think that orthopaedists should keep in contact with you through the internet?

Question 14: Which one(s) of the following do you use to ask your physician a question? (you can select more than one option)

Question 15: Have you ever attempted to treat your disease/orthopaedic problem based on the information you obtained from the internet?

Question 16: What do you think about having X-rays performed in the nearest hospital and sending them to your physician over the internet for your post-operative follow ups?

Table 2 Participants’ demographics

		n	%
Educational level	Illiterate	119	6.6
	Primary school	598	33.2
	Secondary school	214	11.9
	High school	500	27.7
	Undergraduate	330	18.3
	Master’s degree	42	2.3
Occupation	layperson (unemployed or retired)	546	28.9
	Officer	80	4.2
	Housewife	587	31.1
	Worker - Intermediate staff	342	18.1
	High-status position in the public sector	139	7.4
	Manager in the private sector - Qualified	116	6.1
	Other	80	4.2
Hospital where the study was conducted	Training and Research Hospital Public	400	21.2
	University Hospital	694	36.7
	City Public Hospital	546	28.9
	Province Public Hospital	135	7.1
	Private Hospital	115	6.1
Complaint(s)	Knee pain	469	24.8
	Low-back pain	329	17.4
	Shoulder pain	217	11.5
	Foot pain	346	18.3
	Fracture treatment	217	11.5
	Hip pain	147	7.8
	Prosthesis surgery	38	2.0
	Arthroscopy	32	1.7
	Fracture surgery	98	5.2

Table 3 The distribution of participants’ choice of hospital or physician and the distribution of data about asking an orthopaedist his/her opinion about a disease (n = 1890)

	n	%
The effect of the internet on hospital choice	962	50.9
1Which one(s) of the following had an impact on your hospital choice
Centralized Hospital Appointment system	212	22.0
Website of the hospital	100	10.4
Hospital rating websites	100	10.4
Peer advice on the internet	66	6.9
Facebook	57	5.9
Other (182MHRS call center)	487	50.6
1Which one(s) of the following had an impact on your physician choice
Random choice from the MHRS system	723	14.4
Other patients’ advices on the internet	169	8.9
Physician rating websites	101	5.3
Website of the hospital	123	6.5
Physician personal website	110	5.8
Facebook	54	2.9
Other( MHRS 182 call center)	1146	60.6
Asking an orthopaedist his/her opinion about a disease using the internet	647 (n)	34.2 (%)
1Which option(s) do you prefer to ask an orthopaedist his/her opinion?
Websites allowing asking physicians questions	315	48.7
Physician’s personal website	149	23.0
Facebook	103	15.9
E-mail	72	11.1
With which of the following can you describe the answers you were given?
Helpful	314	48.5
Effective in my choice of hospital/physician	137	21.2
I became more confused	102	15.8

¹More than one option was selected.

Table 4 The distribution of data about befriending with an orthopaedist, utilizing the information obtained and postoperative follow-ups (n = 1890)

	n	(%)
Sending friend request to an orthopaedist on Facebook	162	(8.6)
Befriending with an orthopaedist on Facebook	142	(7.5)
Do you think that orthopaedists should keep in contact with you over the internet?
Not necessary	1007	(53.3)
Necessary	883	(46.7)
1Which one(s) of the following do you prefer to ask your physician a question?
LinkedIn	17	(0.9)
Twitter	54	(2.9)
Facebook	144	(7.6)
Text-message to cell-phone	150	(7.9)
E-Mail	176	(9.3)
What’s App	204	(10.8)
Call his/her cell-phone	814	(43.1)
Other	301	(15.9)

¹More than one option was selected.

Table 5 Asking an orthopaedist his/her opinion over the internet and interpreting the information obtained according to educational level n (%)

	Educational Level						P
	Illiterate	Primary	Secondary	High-school	Under graduate	Post graduate
Participants who asked an orthopaedist his/her opinion about a disease?
Yes	26 (21.8)	173 (28.9)	80 (37.4)	181 (36.2)	147 (44.5)	14 (33.3)	10.001b
No	93 (78.2)	425 (71.1)	134 (62.6)	319 (63.8)	183 (55.5)	28 (66.7)
With which one(s) of the following can you describe the answers you were given?
Helpfull
Yes	5 (19.2)	34 (19.7)	12 (15)	29 (16)	10 (6.8)	1 (7.1)	20.021a
No	21 (80.8)	139 (80.3)	68 (85)	152 (84)	137 (93.2)	13 (92.9)
I became more confused
Yes	11 (42.3)	71 (41)	24 (30)	89 (49.2)	102 (69.4)	7 (50)	10.001b
No	15 (57.7)	102 (59)	56 (70)	92 (50.8)	45 (30.6)	7 (50)
Participants who attempted to treat their orthopaedic diseases based on the information they obtained from the internet
Yes	17 (14.3)	92 (15.4)	32 (15)	112 (22.4)	78 (23.6)	8 (19)	10.004b
No	102 (85.7)	506 (84.6)	182 (85)	388 (77.6)	252 (76.4)	34 (81)

^aP < 0.05,

^bP < 0.01.

¹Pearson χ² test;

²Fisher Freeman Halton test.

Table 6 The comparison of the participants’ asking an orthopaedist his/her opinion and applying the information they obtained according to their occupations

	Occupations										P
	Unemployed - Housewife		Officer		Worker		Manager-Qualified		Other
	n	(%)	n	(%)	n	(%)	n	(%)	n	(%)
Participants who asked an orthopaedist his/her opinion about a disease
Yes	349	30.8	26	32.5	97	28.4	123	48.2	52	65	10.001b
No	784	69.2	54	67.5	245	71.6	132	51.8	28	35
Which one(s) of the following do you prefer to ask an orthopaedist his/her opinion?
Facebook
Yes	59	16.9	3	11.5	24	24.7	14	11.4	3	5.8	20.018a
No	290	83.1	23	88.5	73	75.3	109	88.6	49	94.2
Twitter
Yes	12	3.4	1	3.8	4	4.1	8	6.5	2	3.8	20.645
No	337	96.6	25	96.2	93	95.9	115	93.5	50	96.2
Physician’s personal website
Yes	76	21.8	9	34.6	17	17.5	32	26	15	28.8	10.236
No	273	78.2	17	65.4	80	82.5	91	74	37	71.2
Websites allowing asking physicians questions
Yes	177	50.7	13	50	35	36.1	62	50.4	28	53.8	10.113
No	172	49.3	13	50	62	63.9	61	49.6	24	46.2
With which one(s) of the following can you describe the answers you were given?
I became more confused
Yes	67	19.2	5	19.2	11	11.3	9	7.3	10	19.2	20.012a
No	282	80.8	21	80.8	86	88.7	114	92.7	42	80.8
Helpful
Yes	150	43	12	46.2	42	43.3	79	64.2	31	59.6	10.001b
No	199	57	14	53.8	55	56.7	44	35.8	21	40.4
Participants who attempted to treat their orthopaedic diseases based on the information they obtained from the internet
Yes	193	17	19	23.8	86	25.1	58	22.7	12	15	10.005b
No	940	83	61	76.3	256	74.9	197	77.3	68	85

^aP < 0.05,

^bP < 0.01.

¹Pearson χ² test;

²Fisher Freeman Halton test.