• How to Find Reliable Sites
• Web Site Operators
• Web Site Recommendations
• Conclusion

To Your Health -- CHRC Newsletter

Fall 2004

William Black, M.D. Ph.D.
Medical Director, PAMF Redwood Shores Health Center and Chair, PAMF Internet Committee

I will never forget one of the first patients who brought in a stack of papers printed from various Web sites. He had high cholesterol and he did not want to start a medication to control it. The articles printed from the National Institutes of Health Web site were mixed in with commercial Web pages advertising home remedies and personal anecdotes and testimonials.

The patient was particularly interested in one personal testimonial from a Web site that supported his belief that he should not have to take the medication. Because all the information had come from the Internet, he believed all the sources to have the same reliability.

Several years have passed since that incident, and I have since found that patients have become much more discriminating with the information they read. Today, patients are more aware that health information from the Internet may be unreliable unless it comes from reputable sources.

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How to Find Reliable Sites

How should you assess a Web site? First, find out who operates the site. This information may be obvious in the banner or heading at the top. However, it could be hidden and difficult to find, so be prepared to search. As a general rule, the most reliable Web sites will prominently display this information.

Next, consider if the Web site is run by the government (sites that end in .gov), educational institutions such as universities (sites that end in .edu), or non-profits (sites that end in .org). Some commercial sites that end in .com or .net can be reliable resources, such as the Web site for the Mayo Clinic (http://www.mayoclinic.com). However, some sites that end in .com or .net may be operated by commercial ventures. Because some of these sites may rely on advertising for funding, the information may not be as reliable as other sites.

You should also find out where and how the Web site is receiving its information. Many organizations license content from a “content creator.” Healthwise (http://www.healthwise.org) is an example of a well-respected medical content creator that provides these resources to many health care organizations, including the Palo Alto Medical Foundation.

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Web Site Operators

It is important to find out the individual authors or content creators of a Web site, their credentials, and their professional and/or commercial associations or interests. For example, the medical director of a pharmaceutical company is likely to have a different perspective on treatment of a disease than a governmental public health officer or a medical school university professor. In addition, find out how often the Web site’s content is updated to ensure you are receiving the most current information.

Finally, find out about the Web site's privacy policy, if registration is required prior to accessing any information, and if the Web site collects any personal information from viewers and how it will be used. Although many Web sites that collect your personal information may claim they will not share it with others, reading the "fine print" in many Web site privacy policies will reveal that they reserve the right to change their privacy policy and so subsequently share your information with others, such as telemarketers.

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Web Site Recommendations

There are many excellent sources for information on the Internet. The Palo Alto Medical Foundation’s Community Health Resource Center in Palo Alto and the Family Health Resource Center in Fremont have created an extensive list of Web sites in a variety of categories:

• disease-specific
• foundations for diseases
• professional medical organizations
• alternative medicine
• end of life issues, disabilities
• government information
• and more

Most large health care organizations have a wealth of high quality, trustworthy health information on their Web sites or linked from their Web sites. The Palo Alto Medical Foundation (PAMF) (www.pamf.org) provides health information through a page on our Web site (http://www.pamf.org/healthinformation/index.html), which allows individuals worldwide to find authoritative information on just about any health topic, as well as recommendations for preventative health care, the latest breaking medical news from Reuters, a drug guide, and other useful health information.

PAMF also has age-specific pages for teenagers and preteens. The teen Web site “We’re Talking!”
(www.pamf.org/teen), addresses health issues of relevance to teens in language they understand. The content is reviewed by a panel of community teens to assure relevance and appropriate language. Our preteen Web site "We’re Talking Too!" (www.pamf.org/preteen), is geared towards the health concerns of pre-adolescent kids.

Using the guidelines above as a general rule, Web sites from government agencies are always a good, safe bet for high quality and accurate information.

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) (www.nih.gov) health information page (www.health.nih.gov) provides an alphabetical listing of just about everything you could want to know about health topics. As you click through the topics, you will be taken to pages typically sponsored by one of the National Institutes such as the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK) (www.niddk.nih.gov) or the National Cancer Institute (NCI) (www.nci.nih.gov).

These pages can provide you access to specialized medical dictionaries,for basic information, such as the NCI Dictionary of Cancer Terms (www.nci.nih.gov/dictionary), and they can give you access to broader information, such as the NIDDK National Diabetes Information Clearing house (diabetes.niddk.nih.gov) that has information ranging from a description of the disease to diet and treatment recommendations.

MedlinePlus (www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus) is an index and information repository maintained by the National Library of Medicine and the NIH. It provides access to health topics, drug information, a medical encyclopedia, a medical dictionary, health news, and health directories of doctors, dentists and hospitals.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (www.cdc.gov) has excellent information on both health and safety including great age- and gender-specific pages.

The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) also has good preventive health information (www.ahcpr.gov/consumer). The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) – the parent department for the NIH, CDC, and AHRQ – has a useful index page (www.hhs.gov) that leads to health information from throughout the several agencies under its umbrella.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture Food and Nutrition Center also has some great dietary information (wwww.nal.usda.gov/fnic).

Major universities, such as the University of California, Los Angeles (http://healthcare.ucla.edu/shared/health-information) and major hospitals, such as the Massachusetts General Hospital (www.massgeneral.org/library/wc.asp), also provide dependable, high quality medical information, although much of this information can be more easily accessed through HHS, NIH, CDC or PAMF health information Web sites.

Some non-profit health organizations also have reputable online information, including the American Lung Association (www.lungusa.org), The Cleveland Clinic (www.clevelandclinic.org/health), and the American Diabetes Association(www.diabetes.org).


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Conclusion

Avoid Web sites that require providing any personal information. Although many sites claim to have privacy policies, what happens to the personal data you provide is ultimately unknown.

Above all, be a skeptical consumer. Read multiple information sources.
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