JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Patients with cancer increasingly rely on online information to guide medical decisions, often due to limited time with their healthcare team during oncology encounters. This imbalance heightens patient anxiety and poses significant risks, including misinformed choices, loss of trust, and disengagement from evidence-based care. Drawing from patient conversations, we highlight how individuals often feel unsupported and vulnerable when left to navigate complex information alone. We argue that the current approach to patient consultations falls short of meeting patients’ informational and emotional needs in the digital age, at times leading to complete disengagement from the healthcare system in favor of alternative treatments widely publicized online. This Viewpoint calls for urgent attention to improving patient-provider communication in an era of abundant, and often unreliable, online information.