Gateway to Health: Reliable Information on the Internet

Consumer Health Decisions Series

Presented by:NameRankDepartment of Family DevelopmentUniversity of Wisconsin-ExtensionFamily Living EducatorCounty

This Program was Developed by:

Consumer Health Education Team of the University of

Wisconsin Extension Family Living Program

January, 2008Marma McIntee, Molly Haak,

Allison Hales Espeseth, Christine HawkinsonUniversity of Wisconsin-Extension, U.S. Department of Agriculture and

Wisconsin counties cooperating. UW-Extension provides equal opportunities in employment and programming, including Title IX and ADA.

Adapted with permission from:

The Northern Area Health Education Center, Inc.

http://www.nahec-wi.org/index.html

Overview Learn how to use the Internet

as a health information source

Develop an understanding of the quality of information on the Internet

Learn the best ways to find reliable health information web sites

Who uses the Internet and Why?

As of 2004, 79% of Americans had searched the Internet for health information

Internet provides: Privacy Convenience Many different sources/viewpoints

Internet may encourage: More communication with health

provider

Internet as Consumer Aid

“One of the Internet's strengths is its ability to help consumers find the right needle in a digital haystack of data.”

- Jared Sandberg

Wall Street Journal

columnist

Internet as Consumer Annoyance

“Trying to get information from the Internet is like drinking from a firehose”

- Mitch Kapor

Founder of Lotus software company

Why should you search the Internet for health information?

Make informed health decisions Learn about new treatments Improve communication with health care

providers Find support Promote healthier lifestyle Find resources for school and work

How can the Internet be confusing?

Information overload Disorganized Technical or unfamiliar terms

Too much information can make decision-making difficult

Why else is the Internet confusing?

Privacy/safety may be at risk: Your personal/financial information

Internet is a free-for-all: Anyone can post information May not be reviewed by experts The quality of some information is

uncertain

o Products may be unproven/illegalo Information presented may be

unreliable and biasedo .com (commercial) and .biz

(business) sites usually selling something

Why else…

What suggests that this site might be selling something?

Are consumers concerned about reliability?

Yes, however: tend to visit only first few search results spend average of 6 minutes on sites can’t remember sites they visited

Consumers should be just as critical

of information from the Internet as

they are from any other source

What do we mean by “reliable”?

AccurateReliable information = &

Complete

How can we know if Internet health information is reliable?

Even researchers find it difficult to determine what is reliable

Information on web sites for medical and

academic centers is not always perfectly complete…but still credible

But new tools are being developed all the time. Let’s show you the best…

First: BEWARE!!

Does the web site: make outrageous claims? offer prescriptions or treatments not by a

licensed health care provider? offer information only to sell a product?

Next, when looking at health information, does the website:

clearly state purpose and sponsors? separate advertising/sales from health information? only use information from other reliable sources? say how it chooses to link to other web sites? keep information up-to-date? say how it will protect your personal information? give contact information?

Are there tools to check reliability?

Lots of rating symbols that supposedly indicate quality

Lots of checklists, too Most haven’t been shown to actually work!

You need to know that ones that do…

What tools should we use?

Some reputable sources:

Web site rating check lists HON code (a quality rating symbol) Subject gateways

UW Libraries Web Site Checklist

http://staff.library.wisc.edu/instruction/instmat/

custom/evalweb.pdf

Created by the University of Wisconsin libraries

Key questions to ask when thinking about the credibility of ANY web site

DISCERN

http://www.discern.org.uk/

A 15-item checklist Walk through a web page to help you

determine the reliability of health information

HONcode: “Health on the Net Code”

http://www.hon.ch/

The number-one principle that HON code subscribers must adhere to is admitting that what they do cannot ever replace the relationship between a patient and health care provider

Look for similar “disclaimers” where the HONcode does appear

What are Subject Gateways?

Subject gateways or directories:

Evaluate websites before linking Point to quality information

resources Save time!

Suggested Health Information Subject Gateways

Healthy Wisconsin Peoplehttp://www.healthywisconsin.org/

MEDLINE plus http://medlineplus.gov/

healthfinder http://www.healthfinder.gov/

BadgerLink for library resourceshttp://www.dpi.state.wi.us/badgerlink/

http://www.healthywisconsin.org/

Links to other health information gateways Key national and Wisconsin web resources

in ten categories Links to library resources and support,

including Monday e-mail archives

http://medlineplus.gov/

Health topics Drug Information Dictionaries Medical Encyclopedia Directories

http://www.healthfinder.gov/

Search or pick topics from list Searches can be limited to age groups/populations News, including health events calendars Background information & reference tools Selection policy

Free to Wisconsin citizens Periodical and newspaper indexes include much

full-text EBSCO health databases

HealthSource Plus Clinical Reference Systems USP DI Volume II, Advice for the Patient

http://www.badgerlink.net/

REMEMBER:

Anything you read on the Internet should be discussed with a licensed health care provider

Consumer Health Decision Series

Choosing a Health Care Provider Communicating with Your Health Care

Provider

For More Information Contact:

Name

UW-Extension, ___________County

phone

Visit the UWEX website:

http://www.COUNTY.uwex.edu