When you get home from the doctor’s office after finding out you have an illness, do you check the internet to see what information you can find about the condition?  How about when you start developing symptoms and want to figure out what might be wrong?  If so, you are certainly not alone.  According to the nonprofit internet research group, Pew Internet & American Life Project, more people turn to the internet than consult experts or family members to provide health information and resources.

 

The internet is a convenient, private way to look into illness or wellness topics.  The information available is vast and very diverse.  There is timely, reliable, up-to-date and incredibly accurate information available.  Often you can find exactly what you need to know somewhere on the net.  Unfortunately, you can also find inaccurate, misleading and unreliable information just as easily.   As with any information source, the reader must appraise the information and decide if it is reliable.  The following are some tips on how to find the best sources of data and to avoid the less useful sites.

 

Choosing a Search Method

Anyone familiar with the Internet knows how easy it is to get information. Merely typing in a word even closely related to your topic will get you hundreds of articles to choose from. The majority, however, may not be very relevant. Many will be outdated or no longer available. 

The first step in finding good health related information is to choose a good search engine.   The United States Department of Health and Human Services has developed a gateway site which links consumers to health information from federal, state, local, not-for-profit, university and other consumer health resources.  These source types are generally safe to rely upon for dependable information.  The gateway search source can be found at www.healthfinder.gov.  The best way to find exactly what you need in this or any search engine you choose is to narrow down your search term to exactly what you want to know about.  If, for example, you want to know if the symptoms you are experiencing might be related to thyroid disease, you should type “thyroid disease symptoms”.

If the information you are looking for cannot be found through the healthfinder search, a careful approach to using Google, Dogpile, or any other search engine can be used.  Remember, these search engines do not filter out the less reliable types of sites.    The use of general search engines requires careful attention to source evaluation.

 

For more technical health information searches, health professionals and researchers use MEDLINE, the online version of the Index Medicus.  MEDLINE has abstracts of articles published in more than 4,000 international medical journals.  Consumers are able to use the same database without charge through PubMed. You can go directly to the PubMed website,  ( or merely type PubMed into your browser.  PubMed searches are carried out using official medical subject headings (MeSH), and the results are mostly citations and abstracts. If you are not a healthcare professional, you may need to have a medical dictionary handy and to read abstracts carefully to see if you wish to obtain the full text for more detailed information.

    

Evaluating the Source

The source of information on a website is a very important factor.  After typing in the terms you want to search for, the resulting links are usually multiple.  How do you know which one to choose?  Most web surfers do not look for the source of the information they are reading.  This puts them at risk for relying on the wrong information.  One way to narrow down the sites is to consider the web address suffix. 

Governmental organizations:  Government websites are usually the most peer-reviewed and accurate health sites available.  The National Institutes of Health and the Center for Disease Control are two exceptional sources of consumer health information.  

Organizations: “.org” stands for non–profit.  This is usually a very good source of information.  Organizations such as the American Medical Association, The American Pharmacists Association, and the American Heart Association offer valuable information which is usually balanced and accurate.

Educational Institutions: “.edu” is the suffix which denotes a University.  Research is generally conducted in connection with Universities.  The depth of knowledge of researchers and college professors is vast, therefore their websites tend to have dependable technical health information.

 

Commercial sites: This type of site can be found at a “.com” address.  Since this type of site is commercial, you must be aware of the purpose for the information posting.  If a product is involved, the website is likely a method of selling you that product.  Another factor on .com websites is the regulation of the site.  If a product is regulated by the FDA, they are held to specific standards in delivering information.  They still will attempt to make their product look the best it can look, but they do have to answer to someone about what they publish.  Other dot com sites may be very useful, but you must be much more careful in using the information.  A good general rule is to read information from at least two different sources and compare to be sure there are not large differences in the facts.

If you are unable to determine who wrote the material on the website you find, try clicking on the “about this site” or “who we are” button.  This will usually link you to a description of who put the site together.

 

Evaluating Health Information:

 

Timeline: Over time, even the very best health information becomes outdated.  Always check the date the information was posted.  The older the information, the more likely new and useful information is available elsewhere.

Authors:  In addition to looking at who sponsored the placement of information on a site, consumers should also look at who wrote the article.  They may have a bias, a vested interest, or something to sell.  You may also look for the educational and professional qualifications of the writers and sponsors. Can the authors be contacted to answer questions?  Are the statements or claims backed by research from peer-reviewed scientific publications? Information from anyone trying to sell a product, of course, must be judged in light of its purpose.

Links: Finally, most sites provide links to other good sources of information. Following up on some of these links can also give you some ideas about the quality and authority of the site you are starting from. 

 

For disease prevention, healthy living and managing chronic medical conditions, detailed health information is crucial.  With the power of information, consumers can go to their doctors’ visit prepared to intelligently discuss their ailment.  With knowledge, they are empowered to take an active part in their treatment.  Ehealth can keep you healthy if you are careful about which information you use! 

 

Written By:  Natasha Edmundson