Finding a Credible Health Web Site that You Can Trust
By Doug Scott
If you think that it is difficult for a health care professional like yourself to find credible medical information on the Internet, imagine what it is like for your patients.
According to the Pew Internet and American Life project entitled, Online Health Search 2006, 80 percent of Americans use the Internet to search for health care information, while 86 percent of Americans suffering from a chronic illness go online to find health care information. Among these people, 53 percent said the Internet had an impact on how they take care of themselves or care for a loved one. The study concluded by stating the Internet affected their decision in treating an illness or a condition; it led them to ask their health care providers more questions, and it affected their decision to even seek care from a provider.
But only 25 percent of those who used the Internet ever checked the source or the date of the online health information.
Kelli Ham, a consumer health coordinator/librarian, NN/LM Pacific Southwest Region, UCLA Biomedical Library; explained that there is a consumer-level health information Web site called MedlinePlus, that is put together by health professionals and librarians at the National Library of Medicine which provides trustworthy and understandable medical information for both the health care provider and the patient.
"If a patient searches Google for health information - which is what most people do - they typically have no way of knowing if it is quality information or not," said Ham, who had a CME session at AAPA's 2009 annual conference entitled, When Your Patient is a Googler: Health Websites You Both Can Trust. "Most physicians, nurses, and PAs are probably not aware of all the good online health resources such as MedlinePlus that are available.
"PAs will find MedlinePlus a useful tool because if they can guide their patients and also validate their patient's needs for good medical information, then it is going to lead to a more productive PA/patient relationship, which helps keep the patient on a track to a more positive health outcome.
"Plus, I believe this will save time in the actual appointment in the sense that if the patient is aware that MedlinePlus is a quality site, then they won't be bringing in all of the bad printout information from Google and so forth."
Ham explained that MedlinePlus is an authoritative, Web-based, consumer health information resource for patients, families, and health care providers - such as PAs - that is developed by the U.S. National Library of Medicine and the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Run by the federal government, the site does not allow or contain any commercial advertising.
"The people at the National Library of Medicine are not creating the content; they are going out and finding the very best content available and then linking to it within MedlinePlus," said Ham. "Therefore, MedlinePlus is a great starting point for the best health information for consumers.
"The site includes over 750 health topics such as a disease or a condition but it can also be topics like prevention, wellness or mental health. There is even a health topic on divorce, for example. It also includes topics such as advance directives and end-of-life issues. There is even a topic on navigating the health care system."
For more information about MedlinePlus and other health information resources of special interest to PAs and their patients, visit www.MedlinePlus.gov.
