• 21st Century Issues •
Help patients sift wheat from chaff on World Wide Web
BY TODD SIMCHUK
You might be an old hand at using the Internet, but some of your patients are not. You already know to remind them to treat e-mail like a postcard -- something that could be read by others. Also keep in mind the learning curve for using the World Wide Web.
And the growth of health information on the Web is explosive, with major players such as former Surgeon General C. Everett Koop, M.D., and the American Medical Association getting into the Web site business. Helping patients sort the wheat from the chaff is a growing challenge for family physicians.
"Everybody talks about whether the content on the Web is good or not, and the thing is, some content is terrible," says John Bachman, M.D., of South Rochester, Minn., a family physician at the Mayo Clinic and lecturer on computer use and the Internet.
Here are some ideas for helping patients when it comes to health Web sites:
Consider the source. "When people are learning about the Web, they have to think about credibility," says Bachman. "Are you going to believe just anyone who puts stuff up there, or sources like the Mayo Clinic and Johns Hopkins?" Bachman notes that content mentioning brand names may be sponsored by companies selling the products.
Use major "search engines." Bachman encourages patients to look for health information with search engines such as www.healthfinder.com.
Visit Web sites together. When patients bring in incorrect information, Bachman uses the opportunity to visit the Web site with them -- to investigate the source and its credibility.
Check the ratings. FPs and patients can also check out sites such as www.healthscout.com, run by family physician John Renner, M.D., of Independence, Mo. Renner is part of a national group evaluating medical Web sites. Healthscout, in its "stars and stinkers" page, each week lists sites to trust, as well as stinkers to avoid.
Encourage patients to use the Web. The Academy offers patient education material at www.familydoctor.org, which might be a good starting point for patients.
"When patients use the Web intelligently, it empowers them," says Bachman. "When they're involved in gathering the information and sifting through it, they tend to make better choices and do the right things."
FP Report is published by the AAFP News Department.
Copyright © 2000 by American Academy of Family Physicians.
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