Internet and Social Media Perceived Impact on Puerto Ricans' relationship with their doctors

The objectives of this research were, first, to identify social media sources used by citizens in Puerto Rico for health information search. Secondly, knowing how searching for health issues on the Internet and social media affects the relationship with the doctor. A survey was conducted through the Google Forms platform with 250 participants with pre-coded questions. The questionnaire asked for search of health information on social networks and websites and how they perceived it to have an influence on the relationship with their doctors. In general, although social media are proving to be of increasing importance in the search for health information, Internet in general still exhibit a relative greater confidence in the citizen. In all the questions the Internet and Web pages appear as a source that affects more the relationship with the doctors in aspects such as the confidence perceived; the doctor's attitude towards the information and the reference recommendations made by physicians. Social media have an effect on these issues but to a lesser degree. In most cases the differences are pronounced and in others the gap is lower between the effects of the health information obtained from the Internet versus that of social media.