{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,20]],"date-time":"2026-05-20T22:15:14Z","timestamp":1779315314508,"version":"3.51.4"},"reference-count":9,"publisher":"Association of University Professors of Ophthalmology","issue":"02","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2021,12,11]],"date-time":"2021-12-11T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1639180800000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":163,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-nc-nd\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Journal of Academic Ophthalmology"],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2021,7]]},"abstract":"<jats:title>Abstract<\/jats:title><jats:p>\n          Objective\u2003To describe the utilization of online resources by patients prior to presentation to an ophthalmic emergency department (ED) and to assess the accuracy of online resources for ophthalmic diagnoses.<\/jats:p><jats:p>\n          Methods\u2003This is a prospective survey of patients presenting to an ophthalmic ED for initial evaluation of ocular symptoms. Prior to evaluation, patients completed surveys assessing ocular symptoms, Internet usage, and presumed self-diagnoses. Demographics and characteristics of Internet usage were determined. Accuracy of self-diagnoses was compared between Internet users and nonusers. Diagnoses were classified as high or low acuity based on agreement between senior authors.<\/jats:p><jats:p>\n          Results\u2003A total of 144 patients completed surveys. Mean (standard deviation) age was 53.2 years (18.0). One-third of patients used the Internet for health-related searches prior to presentation. Internet users were younger compared with nonusers (48.2 years [16.5] vs. 55.5 years [18.3], p\u2009=\u20090.02). There were no differences in sex, ethnicity, or race. Overall, there was a threefold difference in proportion of patients correctly predicting their diagnoses, with Internet users correctly predicting their diagnoses more often than nonusers (41 vs. 13%, p\u2009&lt;\u20090.001). When excluding cases of known trauma, the difference in proportion increased to fivefold (Internet users 40% vs. nonusers 8%, p\u2009&lt;\u20090.001). Upon classification by acuity level, Internet users demonstrated greater accuracy than nonusers for both high- (42 vs. 17%, p\u2009=\u20090.03) and low (41 vs. 10%, p\u2009=\u20090.001)-acuity diagnoses. Greatest accuracy was in cases of external lid conditions such as chalazia and hordeola (100% [4\/4] of Internet users vs. 40% (2\/5) of nonusers), conjunctivitis (43% [3\/7] of Internet users vs. 25% [2\/8] of nonusers), and retinal traction or detachments (57% [4\/7] of Internet users vs. 0% [0\/4] of nonusers). The most frequently visited Web sites were Google (82%) and WebMD (40%). Patient accuracy did not change according to the number of Web sites visited, but patients who visited the Mayo Clinic Web site had greater accuracy compared with those who visited other Web sites (89 vs. 30%, p\u2009=\u20090.003).<\/jats:p><jats:p>\n          Conclusion\u2003Patients with ocular symptoms may seek medical information on the Internet before evaluation by a physician in an ophthalmic ED. Online resources may improve the accuracy of patient self-diagnosis for low- and high-acuity diagnoses.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1055\/s-0040-1722310","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2021,12,11]],"date-time":"2021-12-11T18:34:11Z","timestamp":1639247651000},"page":"e247-e255","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":3,"title":["Utilization of Online Resources by Patients in an Ophthalmic Emergency Department"],"prefix":"10.62199","volume":"13","author":[{"given":"Jodi C.","family":"Hwang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, Miami, Florida"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Nicolas A.","family":"Yannuzzi","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Ophthalmology, Bascom Palmer Eye Institute, University of Miami, Miami, Florida"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Kara M.","family":"Cavuoto","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Ophthalmology, Bascom Palmer Eye Institute, University of Miami, Miami, Florida"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Zubair","family":"Ansari","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Ophthalmology, Bascom Palmer Eye Institute, University of Miami, Miami, Florida"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Nimesh A.","family":"Patel","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Ophthalmology, Bascom Palmer Eye Institute, University of Miami, Miami, Florida"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Courtney F.","family":"Goodman","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, Miami, Florida"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Steven","family":"Lang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, Miami, Florida"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Jayanth","family":"Sridhar","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Ophthalmology, Bascom Palmer Eye Institute, University of Miami, Miami, Florida"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"48610","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2021,12,11]]},"reference":[{"issue":"04","key":"ref1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"e106","DOI":"10.2196\/jmir.4126","article-title":"Access to care and use of the Internet to search for health information: results from the US National Health Interview Survey","volume":"17","author":"D J Amante","year":"2015","journal-title":"J Med Internet Res"},{"issue":"11","key":"ref2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1240","DOI":"10.1001\/jamaophthalmol.2019.3116","article-title":"Assessment of the quality, content, and readability of freely available online information for patients regarding diabetic retinopathy","volume":"137","author":"A Kloosterboer","year":"2019","journal-title":"JAMA Ophthalmol"},{"issue":"06","key":"ref3","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"591","DOI":"10.1016\/j.stem.2008.11.001","article-title":"Stem cell clinics online: the direct-to-consumer portrayal of stem cell medicine","volume":"3","author":"D Lau","year":"2008","journal-title":"Cell Stem Cell"},{"issue":"03","key":"ref4","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"274","DOI":"10.3129\/i10-022","article-title":"Frequency and seasonal variation of ophthalmology-related Internet searches","volume":"45","author":"C T Leffler","year":"2010","journal-title":"Can J Ophthalmol"},{"issue":"09","key":"ref5","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1219","DOI":"10.1016\/j.ophtha.2019.04.008","article-title":"Google searches and detection of conjunctivitis epidemics worldwide","volume":"126","author":"M S Deiner","year":"2019","journal-title":"Ophthalmology"},{"issue":"03","key":"ref6","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"380","DOI":"10.1001\/archopht.122.3.380","article-title":"Ophthalmology on the Internet: what do our patients find?","volume":"122","author":"A Kahana","year":"2004","journal-title":"Arch Ophthalmol"},{"key":"ref7","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"133","DOI":"10.1186\/s12886-016-0315-0","article-title":"Readability of patient education materials in ophthalmology: a single-institution study and systematic review","volume":"16","author":"A M Williams","year":"2016","journal-title":"BMC Ophthalmol"},{"issue":"06","key":"ref8","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"690","DOI":"10.1001\/jamaophthalmol.2019.0571","article-title":"Accuracy of a popular online symptom checker for ophthalmic diagnoses","volume":"137","author":"C Shen","year":"2019","journal-title":"JAMA Ophthalmol"},{"issue":"10","key":"ref9","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"809","DOI":"10.1089\/tmj.2015.0267","article-title":"Understanding health and health-related behavior of users of internet health information","volume":"22","author":"M Wimble","year":"2016","journal-title":"Telemed J E Health"}],"container-title":["Journal of Academic Ophthalmology"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"http:\/\/www.thieme-connect.de\/products\/ejournals\/pdf\/10.1055\/s-0040-1722310.pdf","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2025,7,24]],"date-time":"2025-07-24T22:56:47Z","timestamp":1753397807000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/www.aupojournal.org\/jao\/vol13\/iss2\/10"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2021,7]]},"references-count":9,"journal-issue":{"issue":"02","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2021,11,10]]},"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2021,7]]}},"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1055\/s-0040-1722310","archive":["Portico","CLOCKSS"],"relation":{},"ISSN":["2475-4757"],"issn-type":[{"value":"2475-4757","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2021,7]]}}}