There is a lot of medical information on the internet: Some very good, and some very bad. The follow steps will help you judge the quality of medical web sites.
Difficulty: Average
Time Required: Ongoing
Here's How:
- Figure out what type of group owns the site.
By looking at the middle or end of the Uniform Resource Locator (URL), you can get clues to the site's ownership. (Sometimes the URL also gives clues to the country in which the site is registered.)- Educational institutions: .edu, .ac
- Commercial (for profit) sites: .com, .co (but remember that lots of hospitals have .com domain names)
- Government sites: .gov, .gouv
- Organizations (usually nonprofit): .org
- Networks: .net
- Ask yourself: Am I being given facts, or opinions?
Reliable medical web sites clearly distinguish between factual information and opinion or advice; you shouldn't be left wondering. All medical facts and statistics should be referenced, and you should be given all the information you'd need if you wished to verify the facts yourself in a medical library (including the names of the researchers who did the research and the name of the journal in which it was published, the issue number and date, and the page numbers). Also, the site should make it easy to tell the difference between ads and editorial content. - Make sure you know who’s responsible for the site's content.
Who owns this website, and who creates the content? The answers should be obvious. The site’s sponsors should take credit for all the information on the site, or if they did not create the content, they should clearly state who did. Be wary of medical sites that post information collected from around the web. Also, you should be provided with a way to contact the site owners by email and by postal mail. - Ask yourself: Who's paying for this site?
What is the source of the site's financial support? Advertisements? User fees? Organization funds? Your tax dollars? A corporate sponsor trying to sell a product? The answer to this question can be a clue to whether the content is objective or biased. - Verify the site's credibility.
Unless the site is sponsored by a hospital or medical school, make sure all medical content is reviewed by an editorial board of physicians with solid qualifications. No completely reliable medical site can be written and reviewed by a single person. - Be sure the information is current.
Reliable medical web sites are regularly reviewed and updated, and the date of the most recent update or review should be clearly posted. - Make sure you know what information is being collected about you, and how it will be used.
Does the site collect your personal information? Do they guarantee to respect your privacy and confidentiality? Be sure you read their privacy policy, and don't agree to anything you don’t understand. - Learn more about how to recognize good medical websites.
Learn more about how to recognize reliable medical information on the internet by reviewing the guidelines on the following sites:
