This came to me via the IHC Board. Thought you'd be interested in the
polling findings.
Incidentally, I recommend the HealthFinder site sponsored by the US
government.
Ahmad
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Evaluating health info on Internet a challenge
By Laura Meckler
ASSOCIATED PRESS
May 19, 1998
As the government rolls out its updated guide to health information on
the Internet, new polling suggests consumers are turning increasingly
to
cyberspace for guidance about health and medicine.
At the same time, more and more unreliable sites are becoming available
on the World Wide Web, making it difficult for consumers to figure out
what information has been rigorously tested and what is just conjecture
or personal experience, government and private analysts say.
"Trying to get health information from the Internet is like drinking
from a firehose, and you don't even know what the source of the water
is," said Mary Jo Deering, director of health communication and
telehealth for the Department of Health and Human Services.
Last month, HHS unveiled updates to its healthfinder Web site,
including
new information about how to choose doctors and health plans and how to
stay healthy.
Last year, about 15.6 million adults searched for online health
information, including 43 percent of all Internet users. That's up from
13.8 million, or 38 percent, in 1996 and is projected to grow to 27.1
million this year, said Michael Brown.
Yet, doctors are uncomfortable with their patients accessing medical
information on their own, Brown said. Some doctors, he explained, don't
want to spend time debunking bad information patients find in
cyberspace.
Others are simply uncomfortable losing control over the information --
good or bad -- that their patients receive.
"They see themselves as the primary source of patient education," said
Brown, a partner in Interactive Solutions Inc., which develops strategy
for the Internet and has done extensive polling on how people use the
World Wide Web regarding health data.
Just over 50 percent of doctors surveyed said the Internet was
beneficial for their patients, although about 60 percent said the
Internet was helpful to them.
"Physicians need to wake up to the fact that their patients are not
only
online in greater and greater numbers every year, but very proactive
and
sophisticated," Brown said.
In a companion study, Interactive Solutions examined 160 Web sites
dealing with health. In 1996, 53 percent of them were operated by
entities generally seen as respected and reliable, such as government
agencies, medical centers, medical schools and professional
associations.
A year later, just 47 percent of the sites examined were operated by
respected organizations, with more and more sites produced by
consumers,
vendors, manufacturers and unidentified sources on their own.
Consumers became particularly more active on the Web, producing one out
of four health sites last year, up from one in 12 in 1996. A prostate
cancer patient, for instance, might post information about the
treatments he underwent, though there's no way to tell if those
treatments are likely to work for someone else.
"It's so easy to publish on the Web now you'll see more consumers do
it.
They're all well-meaning," though not necessarily accurate, he said.
The government healthfinder site, located on the Internet at
www.healthfinder.gov, is meant to help consumers become more involved
in
their health care. The updated version adds more powerful search
engines
and more information on the most popular topics including cancer, heart
disease, nutrition, diabetes and immunizations.
It also includes a tool for users to calculate their own health risks
for diabetes.
The site has seen more than 1.7 million visitors since it was launched
a
year ago.
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________________________________________
Dr Ahmad Risk
http://mednetics.org
home: +44 1273 724866
work: +44 1737 240022
fax: +44 1737 244660
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