The National Medical Knowledge Advancement Committee, appointed by The Korean Medical Association, conducted a study with aims to offer useful and practical health care information to the populace. The primary objective of this study was to provide a national survey regarding various aspects of health care information including resources, confidentiality, search frequency, preferable kinds of information, most desirable mediums and common knowledge of medicine. The research was compiled from results of a questionnaire offered by the Medical Association. The study´s major findings are as follows:
1. Populace´s health care information search tendencies from the doctors : ´always´ 6.8%, ´frequently´ 11.1%, ´occasionally´ 57.2%, and ´rarely´ 25.0%.
2. Populace´s health care information resources : TV 73.9%, newspaper 56.7%, Internet 39.6%, personal information 30.0%, and drugstore 20.4%.
3. Most confidential health care information resources : general hospital 40.0%, TV 14.3%, physician´s office 9.7%, lecture 6.0%, Internet 5.6%, and newspaper 4.1%.
4. Preferable health care information : disease prevention and health promotion 43.5%, early detection of disease 25.1%, wrong medical common sense 14.3%, disease treatment 12.2%, and current medical issue 2.9%.
5. Affirmative answer to preferable medium for health care information offered from Medical Association was lecture 51.3% and Internet 78.4%. Individuals in their sixties and who did not graduate from middle school preferred lectures at higher rates. Secondary school graduates preferred the internet at higher rates.
6. The subject´s correct medical common sense with respect to a questionnaire consisting of 10 questions, had a mean of 3.1 and a standard deviation of 2.1 questionnaire. The younger age group, women, and higher educated individuals were significantly more likely to provide the correct answer.
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