Health information on the Internet - a challenge for professionals

Louise Donnelly and others have recently published "eHealth as a challenge to 'expert' power: a focus group study of internet use for health information and management". J R Soc Med. 2008 Oct;101(10):501-6.
The numbers of households with access to the Internet has meant journal articles, medical information and medical libraries are increasingly accessible. In 2003, the World Health Organization (WHO) identified over 100,000 health-related websites in operation, with other generic sites totalling 60 million. What does this mean for health professionals? The authors conclude, "Our findings illustrate changes in patient identity and a decline in expert authority with ramifications for the practitioner–patient relationship and subsequent implications for health management more generally. "