BACKGROUND: Strict work timetables, personal and professional duties or an inability to be absent from home or work can all represent major constraints for those wishing to improve their professional skills. Within this context, the World Wide Web can allow people to conveniently follow distance courses from their homes. OBJECTIVE: To present an experience in the use of the Web in the continuing education of healthcare professionals in Brazil. METHODS: A Web-based distance education course...

BACKGROUND: The Internet provides many advantages when used for interaction and data sharing among health care providers, patients, and researchers. However, the advantages provided by the Internet come with a significantly greater element of risk to the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of information. It is therefore essential that Health Care Establishments processing and exchanging medical data use an appropriate security policy. OBJECTIVE: To develop a High Level Security...

BACKGROUND: Digital health information is available on a wide variety of platforms including PC-access of the Internet, Wireless Application Protocol phones, CD-ROMs, and touch screen public kiosks. All these platforms record details of user sessions in transaction log files, and there is a growing body of research into the evaluation of this data. However, there is very little research that has examined the problems of comparing the transaction log files of kiosks and the Internet....

BACKGROUND: Three-dimensional ultrasound images allow virtual sonography even at a distance. However, the size of final 3-D files limits their transmission through slow networks such as the Internet. OBJECTIVE: To analyze compression techniques that transform ultrasound images into small 3-D volumes that can be transmitted through the Internet without loss of relevant medical information. METHODS: Samples were selected from ultrasound examinations performed during, 1999-2000, in the...

BACKGROUND: The World Wide Web has become a widely utilized source of health information. Although the frequency of health related queries is impressive, the demographics associated with patients making queries has not been clearly delineated. OBJECTIVE: This study's objective was to determine health related Internet usage patterns of family medicine patients. METHODS: Internet use among 824 eligible patients 18 years or older attending seven university based family practice clinics during...