Use of the Internet by Medical Practitioners in Private Hospitals in Warri, Delta State, Nigeria

This study explores the use of the Internet by medical practitioners in private hospitals in Warri Delta State, Nigeria. Descriptive survey design was adopted and questionnaire was the instrument used to collect data. The total population and sample for the study were 137 medical practitioners from 30 private hospitals in Warri. Findings revealed that most medical practitioners used the Internet on a regular basis; a majority of the medical practitioners started using the Internet between 1 – 5 years ago; most of the medical practitioners spend 2 – 5 hours using the Internet per visit; a majority of medical practitioners used the Internet without assistance. Medline, journals and PubMed were the Internet resources used by most of the medical practitioners. Internet use enables the respondents to improve patient care, keep up-to-date; high cost of Internet access and lack of access to the Internet were some of the problems facing most of medical practitioners. The study recommends that hospital management should provide their medical practitioners with Internet facilities to enable them access to the most recent and accurate information for effective service delivery. The findings will help health care authorities especially in developing countries to improve on Internet access facilities to medical practitioners.