Research your Way to Good Health with the Internet What Kind of Health Information is on the Internet?

Research your Way to Good Health with the Internet

What Kind of Health Information is on the Internet?

• Information on health conditions and diseases

• Medical and surgical treatment information

• Information about medications and their side-effects

• Clinical trial postings

• Medical dictionaries

• Medical encyclopedias

• Herbal remedies and alternative medicine

• Medical organization and association web sites

How To Tell the Good from the Bad

• Web site evaluation criteria -

• Who runs the site?

• Who pays for the site?

• What is the purpose of the site?

• Where does the information come from?

• What is the basis of the information?

• How is the information selected?

• How current is the information?

• How does the site choose links to other sites?

• What information about you does the site collect, and why?

• How does the site manage interactions with visitors?

• -”Ten Things to Know about Evaluating Medical Resources on the Web,” National Cancer Institute, http://www.cancer.gov/cancerinfo/ten-things-to-know, viewed 5/7/03.

The Criteria

• Who runs the site?

• Ex. – MEDLINEplus - http://medlineplus.gov
• Header on all MEDLINEplus pages
• “A service of the U.S. National Library of Medicine and the National Institutes of Health.”
• Footer
• Links to both organizations are located at the bottom of each page.

The Criteria

• 2. Who pays for the site?

• The URL ends in .gov which indicates that the site is sponsored by the federal government.
• Some other kinds of sites:
• .com indicates a corporate site, ex. http://www.merck.com
• .edu indicates a site affiliated with an educational institution,
• ex. http://www.harvard.edu
• .org indicates a non-profit organization’s website,
• ex. http://www.americanheart.org

The Criteria

• What is the purpose of the site?

• “MEDLINEplus is designed to help you find appropriate, authoritative health information.”
• http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/criteria.html

The Criteria

• Where does the information come from?

• http://medlineplus.gov/
• NLM
• NIH
• ADAM (Encyclopedia)
• Merriam-Webster (Dictionary)
• News (Reuters)
• Various health organizations & their websites

The Criteria

• What is the basis of the information?

• Varies by link
• Research links sections tend to have more evidence based links
• Ex. of evidence:
• http://cis.nci.nih.gov/fact/5_6.htm
• http://www.marchofdimes.com/professionals/681_1189.asp

The Criteria

• How is the information selected?

• http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/criteria.html

• The site mainly uses full-text publications produced by the NIH and other federal government organizations
• External links are also chosen based on criteria listed under “selection criteria” (see criteria #8).

The Criteria

• 7. How current is the information?

• MEDLINEplus pages list last updated date at bottom.
• Most pages have been reviewed or updated within the last 2-3 years.
• Ex. http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/antioxidants.html

The Criteria

• 8. How does the site choose links to other sites?

• MEDLINEplus - http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/criteria.html
• Their criteria:
• Quality, authority and accuracy of content
• Purpose of site is educational, not selling a product and offers information free of charge
• Availability and maintenance of the web page
• Special features

The Criteria

• What information about you does the site collect, and why?

• Ex. MEDLINEplus - http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/privacy.html
• Privacy Statement located in the Privacy link at the bottom of each page. It states that they collect the following information:
• IP address from which you access the Internet
• Date and time you viewed their page or pages
• Internet address of the Web site from which you linked directly to their site
• Name of the file or the words you searched
• Browser used to access their site.
• Any information you personally provide to them.

The Criteria

• How does the site manage interactions with visitors?

• Ex. MEDLINEplus - http://medlineplus.gov
• “Contact Us” button top of pages in the header.
• Email form to be filled out by the user.
• No personal information is required
• Only ask for an email address if you want a reply
• The direct email address is also provided in case the form does not work.

Helpful Evaluation Web Sites

• National Institute of Cancer - http://www.cancer.gov/cancerinfo/ten-things-to-know

• MEDLINEPlus - http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/healthywebsurfing.html

• Health on the Net Foundation (HON) Site Checker - http://www.hon.ch/HONcode/HONcode_check.html

• Quackwatch - http://www.quackwatch.org/index.html

Trusted Lists of Websites

• CAPHIS - http://caphis.mlanet.org/consumer/consumergeneral.html

• Faulkner Patient/Family Resource Center - http://www.faulknerhospital.org/resources_links.html

• MGH Blum Patient and Family Learning Center - http://www.massgeneral.org/pflc/consumer.asp