ABSTRACT
INTRODUCTION Internet applications have become ubiquitous for all types of businesses including healthcare. Two main distinctions are the use of websites for all types of online transactions and e-mails for exchanging messages with and without attachments. An example where the Internet can play an important role is shown in Figure 34.1. A pharmaceutical company outsources part of its clinical studies or laboratory analyses to a contract laboratory. The physical sample is sent to the contract laboratory, analyzed and the data sent back to the sponsor by e-mail with reports attached, or by data entry into a proprietary database.
