Journalist Ethevaldo Siqueira, confirmed as a speaker in the Plenary Session of the 36th World Hospital Congress, The Role of the "Informed Patient" in the Knowledge Era, believes that the healthcare sector should not fear the patient that arrives informed at the doctor’s office.
Rather, Siqueira states that this new profile of the general public fosters an enhanced acceptance of diagnosis and further therapy.

For the speaker, the fact that Brazil hosts a global event is extremely positive. "Participants will have the opportunity to network with countries where healthcare is more advanced, as well as exchanging healthcare knowledge and technology," says he.

Official event of the International Hospital Federation (IHF), the 36th World Hospital Congress will be held from November 10th to 12th , in Rio de Janeiro, featuring "Healthcare in the Knowledge Era" as the core theme.The event is being organized jointly by the IHF, CNS (National Health Confederation - Brazil) and Hospitalar Forum +Fair.

Ethevaldo Siqueira a journalist at CBN radio and columnist of the newspaper O Estado de São Paulo, states that today everybody uses Internet search engines for any type of information, especially when it comes to healthcare.

He emphasizes, however, that such sites are not absolutely reliable sources because they do not adopt a hierarchy of what is more important in any given subject. "As users, we do not have to look at all the search pages and not all information returned by Google, for example," he says. Still, Siqueira believes that the Internet will evolve to the point of permitting a search by order of importance.

Expert in Information, Communication and Technology, Ethevaldo Siqueira says that while the patient informed could look like a risk, information is " halfway the job done." "Access to information is good for the patient. When they come to the doctor’s office with some knowledge, they have the ability to better understand the diagnosis and therapy, "says the journalist. Siqueira emphasizes also that these patients may even have access to preventive medicine and use that information to better take care of their health. "The patient, however, will never become independent from the doctor or from the hospital," he says.

According to Siqueira the objective of having access to information does not lessen the confidence in the doctors nor in the healthcare providers, but it changers the behavior of the patients, facilitating their understanding of issues related to their own body. He warns, however, that healthcare professionals should not fear the Knowledge Era , on the contrary, they should seek to keep abreast of the changes resulting from the access to information.