Be cautious about Internet advice
Be cautious about Internet advice
Share these 10 tips with your patients
With more than 20,000 health care Web sites up and running, case managers must caution their patients that not all health care sites are created equal. The Washington, DC-based Internet Healthcare Coalition, a nonprofit, nonpartisan, international organization dedicated to providing quality health care resources on the Internet, has developed the following tips to help health care consumers and professionals evaluate the reliability of on-line health information and advice:
1. Choosing an on-line health information resource is like choosing your doctor. A good approach is to find a Web site that lists a person, institution, or organization in which you already have confidence. If possible, seek information from several sources and don’t rely on a single source of information.
2. Trust what you see or read on the Internet only if you can validate the source of the information. Authors and contributors should always be identified, along with their affiliations and financial interests, if any. Phone numbers, e-mail addresses, or other contact information also should be provided.
3. Question Web sites that credit themselves as the sole source of information on a topic, as well as sites that disrespect other sources of knowledge.
4. Don’t be fooled by a comprehensive list of links. Any Web site can link to another, and that in no way implies endorsement from either side.
5. Find out whether the site is professionally managed and reviewed by an editorial board of experts to ensure the material is credible and reliable. Sources who provide Web site information should be clearly referenced and acknowledged.
6. Make sure all clinical information includes the date of publication or modification.
7. Any and all sponsorship, advertising, underwriting, commercial funding arrangements, or potential conflicts of interest should be clearly stated and separated from the editorial content. A good question to ask is: Does the author or authors have anything to gain from proposing one particular point of view over another?
8. Avoid any on-line physician who proposes to diagnose or treat you without a proper physical examination and consultation regarding your medical history.
9. Read the Web site’s privacy statement and make certain that any personal, medical, or other information you supply will be kept absolutely confidential.
10. Use common sense: Shop around, always get more than one opinion, be suspicious of miracle cures, and always read the fine print.
The coalition is composed of all the relevant health Internet stakeholders. In addition to Internet health care companies, the coalition has consumer, university, hospital, government agency, and provider members.
(For more details, including the coalition’s recently drafted Internet health care code of ethics, visit the organization’s Web site at www. ihealthcoalition.org.)
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