A firm that looks into trends within the pharmaceutical industry has unveiled the results of a study exploring the use of technology among GPs.
Global healthcare and pharmaceutical market research company, Manhattan Research, looked into the way physicians across western Europe integrate the internet and other technology into their practices.
Issues covered by the Taking the Pulse Europe study include email communication, personal digital assistants, practice websites, electronic medical records, personal health records, electronic prescribing, web-based sampling, electronic detailing, and online medical education.
The research shows more than 80% GPs across Europe who have access to the web say the internet is essential to the the way they deliver their services.
About two-thirds of the 1,000 European practising physicians surveyed use the online encyclopaedia Wikipedia as a medical resource at least once a month, with some even directing patients to the site.
While nearly two-thirds expressed an interest in joining physician-only social networks if they were developed.
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