The Patient's Handbook has more than 3000 articles written by more than 50 specialists and general practitioners, and is completely free of advertisements and commercial interests. It also contains about 2000 illustrations in the form of medical drawings, radiographs, animations and photographs concerning health and disease issues.

One major advantage of the Patient's Handbook is its credibility. According to a recent Danish survey, 56 % of respondents occasionally look up an illness or symptom on the Internet at least once a quarter, while only 6.6 % never do. However, although there is plenty of information available, nearly half the respondents find it difficult to ascertain its credibility. With the Patient's Handbook, however, the citizen has the assurance that it has the same professional accreditation and credibility as the Doctor's Handbook (Lægehåndbogen, in Danish), which is used by health professionals.

The Patient's and Doctor's Handbooks have been produced through a collaboration of Danish Regions (Danske Regioner, in Danish), Denmark's official eHealth portal sundhed.dk and the Danish Medical Association (Lægeforeningen, in Danish).

The launch of the Patient's Handbook also had the effect of increasing visits to the sundhed.dk website. During September 2011, the website had a record 360 000 unique users. The popularity of sundhed.dk was also bolstered by the information campaign, which started in September and will continue in October, partly on the theme of the Patient's Handbook.

Background Information:

The recent survey figures come from a web panel survey of 1000 respondents carried out for sundhed.dk during August-September 2011. In full, the results are:

How often are you information about health or illness on the internet?

• Daily / almost daily: 15 (1.5 %)
• 3-4 times a week: 16 (1.6 %)
• 1-2 times a week: 55 (5.5 %)
• 1-3 times a month: 205 (20.5 %)
• 1-2 times during the quarter: 269 (26.9 %)
• Less than quarterly: 371 (37.1 %)
• Never: 66 (6.6 %)
• Do not know: 4 (0.4 %)

Which of the following five statements best describes your assessment of available health information?

• It is impossible to understand: 24 (2.4 %)
• I can apply to myself only information from magazines, television or from talking with others: 18 (1.8 %)
• It is difficult to compare media information: 157 (15.7 %)
• It is possible to find information, but hard to determine its credibility: 467 (46.7 %)
• It is possible to apply information to my situation: 203 (20.3 %)
• Do not know: 132 (13.2 %)

Further information:

• Original news article - sundhed.dk (in Danish)
• Related ePractice news article - DK: Internet medical handbook launched for patients