THE INTERNET AND MEDICINE: FOCUS ON PEDIATRIC SURGERY

Rapid development of the Internet, which is the largest network of the connected computers, has resulted in free 
circulation of any kind of information all around the world. This immense network created a world without barriers, made 
easier communication possible between people, and has facilitated accessibility of information equally from anywhere in the world. The Internet is a tool that provides different kinds of communication options for the health professionals as well as the pediatric surgeons. There are many applications of the Internet for the use in medicine. Electronic mail (e-mail), which is the most widely used feature of the Internet, facilities rapid, easy and cost effective communication between the physicians. 
Messages, and any kind of electronic documents can be transmitted by e-mail. E-mail makes possible the consultation on clinical cases, participation in distribution lists (mailing lists), databases and discussion forums. Another mostly used 
facility of the Internet; the World Wide Web (WWW) provides a user friendly interface with web pages. By a web page, it is possible to read texts, to watch images, video and real time pictures, and an audio embedded into the page can be listened, as well. WWW facilitates bibliographic research, and to access medical on-line journals. The Internet, which provided remarkable development in telemedicine, made possible the videoconferences, tele-consultations, and multicenter protocols. 
Surgical simulation and remote virtual surgery seem to be widely used applications of the Internet in the future. Recently, all these aforementioned facilities make easier for a health professional to reach information faster and also cheaper than the conventional communication methods. However, the Internet carried out many ethical problems such as patient’s privacy rights and deleterious web sites which are serving invalid or misleading health information. Recently the Internet has become the millennium’s conventional method of communication. A physician, as well as a pediatric surgeon who is familiar with the Internet will have a great ability to improve him or herself in medicine.