Finding Quality Health Information On The Internet Angela Drayton Assistant Librarian, YDH (Adapted from a presentation by Carol-Anne Regan, Library Manager, MPH)
Information overload?
Quality Standards http://www.hon.ch/honcode/ https://www.england.nhs.uk/tis/# http://www.hon.ch/honcode/
Patient Info http://patient.info/health
NHS Choices http://www.nhs.uk/pages/home.aspx
What About Websites With No Quality Standards?
Judging Websites Without Quality Standards www W = Who? W = What? W = Where?
WHO? Look At The “About Us” Section Who are the authors/publishers? What are their qualifications? What are their reasons for publishing? Are they giving unbiased information or selling product? Do other websites link to them? Look At The “About Us” Section
NHS Choices: What we do http://www. nhs
WHAT? Look At “Last Updated” Section What is on the site? Is the information relevant to the subject? Is it linked to evidence? (references) Is it up to date? Look At “Last Updated” Section Check links to other information: are they broken/out of date?
Asthma information http://patient.info/health/asthma-leaflet
WHERE? Look At The Web Address (URL) What part of the world is the website from? NB: sometimes the statistics quoted or the treatment may not be relevant to the UK Look At The Web Address (URL) This will indicate the country of origin and type of organisation
Web Address or Domain Name .au = Australia .ca = Canada .de = Germany .com = international company .co = company (eg; .co.uk) .nhs.uk = an NHS site .org = organisation (includes charities) .ac or .sch or .ed = an educational site .gov = a government site
Internet Medicines http://www. nhs
Counterfeit Drugs From 1 July 2015, any online seller of medicines based in Europe needs to be registered with their respective national regulator and display a common European logo. In the UK, this means that medicine retailers must be registered with the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA).
RPS Logo To help you identify a legitimate pharmacy website, the Royal Pharmaceutical Society has produced an internet pharmacy logo that acts as a visual aid for people who wish to buy medicines online. Only bona fide registered pharmacies providing professional services in Great Britain are entitled to display the logo.
Boots Online http://www. boots
Avoiding Scam Advice http://www. nhs
Action Fraud http://www.actionfraud.police.uk/fraud-az-medical-scams
General Scam Advice http://www.met.police.uk/docs/little_book_scam.pdf
Somerset Choices www.somersetchoices.org.uk
Yeovil District Hospital http://www. yeovilhospital. co
Thank You For Listening