I welcome your thoughts please.
Information is going to be the currency. Quality of information is,
and will continue to be, a big issue
I am involved in a group commissioned by the G7+ nations to look at
issues of the Internet and health care (G7+ ENABLE, Sub-Project 5).
The aim of the group is to draft recommendations to be presented to the
G7+ governments for consideration.
I am part of the 'Classifications, Terminology and Quality' Sub Group.
On my suggestion, the following draft recommendation seems to have
been accepted and will be included in the final report, not only to
the G7+, but also the EU Commission:
"Whereas
ú the public, and others who lack health-related professional skills,
are beginning to search the global Internet for health information
ú much of the health-related information on the Internet is poor and
some may be a hazard to health
ú it is difficult to identify which sites or data bases carry the
authority of reputable clinical bodies'.
It is recommended that:
(A) G7-plus nations encourage the establishment of national foci to
address the problems of quality of health information on the Internet.
One such form of foci, which it is suggested be explored, is the
concept of Health Information Quality Academies.
(B) They should encourage the bringing together of such national foci
to form an international federation.
(C) National foci should seek to encompass a broad membership to
involve for example, national clinical colleges and associations,
acadaemia, the healthcare industry, information and content providers
, patient groups, and individaul experts eg IM&T and clinical
professionals.
(D)The national foci and any international federation should explore
means by which by which the public could recognise a body which can be
trusted to provide reliable health information on the Internet. Such
bodies would need to abide by a strict set of rules/guidance to be
agreed internationally and be of recognised national standing in the
provision of health advice. Possibilities might include national data
bases of such bodies perhaps combined with a copyrighted mark."
You may like to think of the national Academies being federated to the
International one much the same way as IATA, for example, works. I
would hope, for example, that the BHIA would lead the way in
developing the British academy.
The idea would be for information providers to submit their sites for
independent audit *before* they are allowed to continue membership of
the Academy.
The Academy would have strict ground rules to make membership difficult
and therefore coveted.
The academies, of course, would have a wider role in things like
education and research.
You might like to look at the G7+ project site at:
http://www.ehto.be/sp5
Thoughts?
Ahmad
________________________________________
Dr Ahmad Risk
http://mednetics.org
home: +44 1273 748198
work: +44 1737 240022
fax: +44 1737 244660
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