The healthcare online communication environment and its changes caused by the pandemic by the internet search insights and trends

Abstract

Objective: Private healthcare providers obtain a significant part of their patients from the online environment. The Hungarian online communication environment has been intensively shaped due to the healthcare system and private healthcare market changes catalyzing the pandemic. This study presents the private healthcare providers' online environment and its recent changes.  

Methods: This study examined Google search trends and statistics regarding healthcare between January 2019 and December 2022.

Results: This study presents the changes in search trends from three aspects; firstly, the searches are based on symptoms independent of the medical specialization, and then the searches are related to the doctor's speciality. Finally, this document illustrates the bond between healthcare environment changes and its impact on search trends in three examples: the online trends of lung cancer, private delivery, and total hip replacement.

Conclusions: The online environment has an important role in patient acquisition; therefore, it is necessary to follow Google search trends and the changes in thematical searches. The increasing interest in the medical speciality can be detected in time; by following the trends, the patient's new interests can be forecasted, and possible development areas can be predicted. Accurate knowledge of the online environment is a necessary task in the analysis and evaluation of paid advertisements.