Finding reliable health information online

[ICNDonna]

Our health insurance company included some tips in their monthly newsletter to help access health information on the internet.

They suggest you look for some things when checking a web site:
1. Who is paying for the site? Is it a government agency? individual? business? Is the site sponsor selling a product?
2. Are there reliable references, sources of information shown?
3. When was the site last updated?

RED FLAGS:
They recommend avoiding sites which:
1. Offer treatment for sale.
2. Include patient endorsements instead of scientific evidence.
3. State they can "cure" diseases.
4. State that there are no side effects to a treatment or product.

And --- very important --- share what you've found with your doctor.

I thought this information warranted sharing.

Donna

[ICNJess]

Hi Donna,

Those are some great tips and pointers. When I am looking at health information online, like webmd.com, I print out any questions I have from the site and talk it over with my doctor.

Thanks for the great info!

Hugs and love,
Jess

[Iris]

Thanks Donna for posting, some very valuable hints to look for on health web sites, thank you for sharing, hugs Iris.

[Bea]

Thanks for the info.. hugs to you

[icnmgrjill]

We have a really good chapter on internet safety in our patient handbook too! It's always important to remember that our medical decisions should be based upon good research and consultation with a medical care provider.. rather than another patients opinion. Why?? Because several times we've actually caught sales reps pretending to be patients to sell their products in this very forum.

It still amazes me that they would be sooo deceitful. Furthermore, we caught one book publisher/marketing rep pretending to be a patient to sell their book... before it had even come out. Was suspicious when they said "this book changed my life and will change yours too..." considering the fact that the book wasn't even for sale yet. They created four different names over four different days.... and finally started ranting on the icn for ******ing... despite the fact that we identified the company involved AND asked the author of the book to stop endorsing that marketing practice.

In any case, it's always good to be a wise, informed and skeptical consumer.

Jill