Use of the Internet by parents of paediatric patients.

Aim: We aimed to determine the rate of Internet use for obtaining medical information by health-care patients at a tertiary paediatric hospital, whether the Internet may influence patients' attitudes to health-care services and health-care providers and whether patients would prefer the assistance of a professional informatics officer.

Methods: An anonymous questionnaire randomly distributed to 450 subjects at Sydney Children's Hospital, Sydney, Australia.

Results: A total of 294 (65%) questionnaires were returned.