Fifteen percent of respondents to a recent nonrandomized Internet survey conducted by the CMA said their practices have a Web site.
Upon reading that, I couldn't help but wonder if many physicians are wary of Internet publishing because it is perceived as being difficult, time consuming or too expensive. In fact, it is none of those things. With some simple Web-authoring tools, creating your own site can be relatively fast, easy and free. The writing and formatting of my site (www .members.home.net /m greiver / index.htm) took half an hour, while registering and getting set up with my service provider took another hour.
I created my site because I wanted to make some basic facts about my practice, such as hours available for appointments, parking information and practice location, easily available for my patients. And since I see patients arriving with health information hot off the Internet, I included links to a few high-quality health-information Web sites.
I wrote my home page using Netscape Composer. To access the program, load Netscape and click on Communicator from the top menu, then Composer. When the page is open, start typing the information you would like to offer your patients. Want to link to another site? Click on the “link” button on top, then type the link's name and address on the screen that pops up. There is a button on the top for images, but adding pictures will slow the speed at which your page loads for visitors.
If you don't have Netscape, there is an authoring program with Windows 98, FrontPage Express (www.microsoft.com/windows98/usingwindows/internet/Articles/003Mar/FPExpress.asp). For those who would like to develop fancier home pages, programs such as FrontPage 2000 (www.microsoft.com/frontpage/) are available.
Once you are satisfied with the way your home page looks, you have to publish it so patients can access it. Many Internet service providers (ISPs) provide this hosting service at no charge. There are also free hosts — visit www.how-to-do-it.com/Users/WebMarketing/Freehosting.htm — but they will usually include some advertising on your page. You may need to register with your ISP to obtain the Web space and you will have to obtain the address from which to post your page.
Once you are ready, hit the “publish” button on the top menu, or go to file, then publish. A pop-up screen appears, and you can then enter a name for your page, such as “Dr. Smith's Practice,” and a name for the file, “practice.htm”. There is a space for the address as well as your password. Once this is entered, click “OK” and your file will be published. Then save your file in a convenient location (I have a folder on my desktop called Internet Pages). If you need to change your page, just load the file into Composer, then republish it after the changes have been made.
I include the address for my page on my letterhead and business cards. I also direct my patients there if I want them to seek information on the Web.
Not only is the creation of a Web page well within the reach of most physicians, the move may help us extend the patient education we provide from our office to the Internet. —
Signature
Michelle Greiver
Toronto
Figure. Dr. Michelle Greiver: MDs' Web sites can promote patient education Photo by: Courtesy Michelle Greiver