Locating, Evaluating, and Utilizing Reliable On-Line Health

Information

Margaret TarpleyVanderbilt University, Nashville, TN

ARCS--2007 Surgical Education WeekApril 12, 2007Hyatt Regency on Capitol Hill,

Washington, DC.

The World Wide Web is alleviating financial and location constraints on access to useful medical information, much of which is free and open to all.

Web search engines such as Google retrieve information easily and quickly, but, unfortunately, with no guarantee of accuracy or evidence-based research. Unreliable health information posted to the Web in attractive and believable formats has been of concern to health care professionals, medical librarians, and medical information specialists since the dawn of the World Wide Web and the internet.

Logging in from their educational institutions, cyber cafes, businesses, and homes, uncounted numbers of persons in the low-income world as well as in technologically-advanced nations are now able to tap into this wealth of information and misinformation on the Web. All users can benefit from suggestions for assessing the reliability, quality, and content of health-related Web sites.

Locating

Public Search Engines• Google• Yahoo• Etc.Scientific Databases• Free to Public

– PubMed—Medline– CDC– WHO– NIH

• Subscription & Proprietary—Through Institution Library

Overview of the Worldwide Web and useful electronic resources including free peer-reviewed journals and other publications.

• PubMed (Medline) http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?DB=pubmed – Links to full-text which is sometimes free or subscribed to by your institution

• National Institutes of Health (NIH) Health Information http://health.nih.gov/

• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention ( CDC ) http://www.cdc.gov/

• WHO World Health Organization (http://www.who.int/en/ )

• FreeBooks4Doctors.com http://www.freebooks4doctors.com/

Evaluating

Web Site judgment criteria

a. Source—Is this Web site produced by a reputable entity such as a university, foundation, professional organization, or recognized expert in the field?b. Content

▪Is there contact information? ▪Do the hyper-links work and do they link to

reputable Web sites? ▪Is the information referenced (does it cite its

source)? ▪Is the primary focus information or service?

▪Does it appear to be commercial with the intent of selling products rather than

educating viewers? c. Date—Note the copyright and revision dates at the

page bottom. Is this up-to-date information?

Google www.google.com

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Utilizing

Locating free peer-reviewed journals and other bibliographical and electronic

resources.• PubMed (Medline)

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?DB=pubmed – Links to full-text which is sometimes free or subscribed to by your institution (Accessed 12 April 2007)

• PLOS (Public Library of Science) http://www.plos.org/index.php (Accessed 11 April 2007

• Free Medical Journals http://www.freemedicaljournals.com/ with links (1450 journals in English, French, German, Portuguese, Spanish, Turkish, and other languages ). http://www.freemedicaljournals.com/ (Accessed 24 July 2006)

• APDS lecture series for residents-->100 www.apds.org • Wise-MD• AAMC

Proper citation of Web resources in scientific publications

• author or produce

• name of the site;

• the full URL (Web address); and the date the material was viewed.

If possible, the material cited should be printed off because Web sites are frequently edited, updated, or even removed completely.

Results and Conclusions

Persons utilizing the tools presented in the teaching module should be able to locate and make sound judgments about on-line resources and use them for clinical and academic purposes.