The Internet is available to researchers as a tool for studying long-term outcomes, but no recent research exists on how to best use it. The authors hypothesize that using the Internet can be at least 75% effective in locating patients lost to follow-up. With Institutional Review Board approval, the authors searched for 66 patients lost to follow-up after a period of 10 years or more with no contact. They tested an Internet searching protocol developed in 2004 and developed an alternate protocol. In all, 74% (49/66) of patients were located.
No takes yet. Share an insight, caveat, or question.
Louie et al. (2012) studied this question.
Synapse has enriched 5 closely related papers on similar clinical questions. Consider them for comparative context: