1. HOW TO SEARCH ONLINE FOR RELIABLE HEALTH INFORMATION Vasumathi Sriganesh QMed Knowledge Foundation info@qmedkf.org.in

2. DO SHARE WITH US… Show of hands How many of you use the Internet to seek health information? Any two in the audience What is your approach when you search? –Any standard website / search engine? –Time you spend? –Criteria for clicking and reading

3. Typical searches

4. Do we ever notice…?

5. An year old page? Who are these people? Advertisement

6. Authentic? No of pages to check? How much time?

7. TODAY’S COVERAGE Information resources A.Understanding authenticity B.Classifying resources C.Highly recommended resources Foundational principles of searching

8. PART I –A AUTHENTICITY

9. QUESTIONS TO ASK Authority of resource? Purpose of the resource? Is it reasonably up to date? Well organized?

10. AUTHORITY / PURPOSE In the website: “About Us”

12. www.medlineplus.gov

13. CLASSIFYING RESOURCES PART I - B

14. THREE MAIN CATEGORIES Type – I Background & factual information. Eg: Books / Textbooks, DictionariesType – I Background & factual information. Eg: Books / Textbooks, Dictionaries Type – II Current and past research. Eg: Journals, “Clinical trial websites”Type – II Current and past research. Eg: Journals, “Clinical trial websites” Type – III Answers – for managing diseases / conditionsType – III Answers – for managing diseases / conditions Eg: Evidence summaries Eg: Evidence summaries

15. WEBSITES Can be Single type Combination types Learn to identify what type of information each website provides!

16. PART I - C HIGHLY RECOMMENDED RESOURCES

17. MEDLINEPLUS www.medlineplus.gov Types I and II Little of Type III

18. Authenticity Purpose Ease of organization

19. TYPE I TYPE II

20. Information about updates

21. PUBMED HEALTH Type I and III ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/

22. TYPE I TYPE III

26. COCHRANE SUMMARIES Type III summaries.cochrane.org

28. Asthma reliever inhalers used for exercise induced asthma…

31. COCHRANE COLLABORATION Experts from different medical fields –“Pregnancy and childbirth group” –“Schizophrenia group” Cochrane Consumer Network –Network of consumers (patients / lay people)

32. http: //consumers. cochrane.org/

33. DYNAMED (subscription based) Type III dynamed.ebscohost.com

37. NATURAL STANDARD (subscription based) Type I and III www.naturalstandard.com

39. INDIAN RESOURCES

40. www.nhp.org.in

41. AYUSH RESEARCH PORTAL Type II and III ayushportal.ap.nic.in

43. DHARA ONLINE www.dharaonline.org Type II

45. DIRECTORY OF INDIAN MEDICAL SITES Type I www.indianmedicalsites.in

47. RECAP Information resources A.Authenticity B.Classifying resources C.Highly recommended resources

48. RECAP Important Resources: International MedlinePlusTypes I and IIwww.medlineplus.gov PubMed HealthTypes I and IIIwww.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed health/ Cochrane Summaries Type IIIsummaries.cochrane.org DynamedType IIIdynamed.ebscohost.com Natural StandardType I and IIIwww.naturalstandard.com

49. RECAP Important Resources: Indian National Health Portal Type Iwww.nhp.gov.in AYUSHType IIayushportal.ap.nic.in DHARA OnlineType IIdharaonline.org Indian Medical SitesType Iwww.indianmedicalsites.in

50. PART IV Foundational Principles of Searching

53. SEARCH PRINCIPLE - I ‘Keyword searches’ Results – ‘contain’ the keywords May / may not be about search term

54. SEARCH PRINCIPLES II & III Databases like PubMed have ‘fields’ for every record You can search for your keyword in ‘one or more fields’ Often we search for more than one term. We can combine searches using ‘AND’, ‘OR’ or ‘NOT’

56. USE OF AND, OR, NOT Combining two (or more) terms with AND – Results must contain both (or all) terms OR – Results will contain any one or any combination NOT – Results will contain the first word but not subsequent word / words

57. SEARCH PRINCIPLE IV Every record in PubMed is ‘tagged’ with special keywords that ‘describe’ the article These keywords are called ‘MeSH’ terms MeSH = Medical Subject Headings Searching with MeSH terms gets maximum relevance

60. SEARCHING CORRECTLY Word search – presence of the word Field search – presence of the search word in a specific area Combinations: AND, OR, NOT Searching with MeSH = Maximum relevance

61. QUICK RELEVANCE IN GOOGLE Search principles applied to Google Using Google Advanced search

63. Has all this really worked?

64. REAL LIFE STORIES HELP – Doctor – son – rare condition …my son had a rare disease- agenesis of corpus callosum. Your information helped me a lot. Taking the cue, I went to Boston to meet someone who ran a NGO on this disease. I still receive a newsletter from that group. Now my son works in _____All thanks to you.

65. REAL LIFE STORIES Family friend – rare disease ….The entire credit of my miraculous recovery from a seemingly incurable disorder, goes to my visit to your place, when I came to know about Pubmed!! I am trying my bit, to spread awareness about the cure …..

66. TAKE HOME MESSAGE Searching is a structured art and science Know where to go –Authentic resources – updated regularly –Types I or II or III Search correctly Evidence may/may not exist Take your decision with your doctor, based on “best available evidence”

67. QMED KNOWLEDGE FOUNDATION Conducts literature searching workshops for health professionals Lectures for consumers People involved –Librarians specialized in medical information management –Trustees – two doctors

68. QMED IS A not for profit Trust No government funding Small funding from SMLRT Chennai for workshops for professionals Raise funds through –Crowdsourcing –Donations for professional help

69. OUR DREAM FOR CONSUMERS Helping patients & their caregivers to seek reliable information and participate responsibly in health care decisions

70. HOW WE CAN HELP YOU Fact sheet – you will get one now Searching for specific needs –“I am 37 and wish to have a baby now. How safe is it” –“My doctor has given a choice of two chemotherapy drugs for my mother. How do I choose” –Consulting sessions to help you Search and discuss with your doctor – but NOT Medical advice – which your doctor will give you

71. www.qmed.org.in