In March 1999, Tom Ferguson, a medical doctor and self-care advocate, and Bill Kelly, cofounder of Sapient Health Network, fielded a survey of an online patient community which asked members to rate the most useful resource for twelve dimensions of medical care.[1] Online patient groups were rated more useful than health professionals on ten of the twelve aspects of care, such as practical knowledge and help finding other resources, whereas specialists and primary care doctors received higher ratings for diagnosis and managing a condition.
It was a small sample of a single patient group (just 191 respondents), but it served as the inspiration for the following series of questions. In our national telephone survey, all adults were asked which group is more helpful when they need certain types of information or support: health professionals like doctors and nurses or peers like fellow patients, friends, and family.