Teach patients how to tell fact from fiction
Creating wise Web users
Telephones and television once were novelties, but now almost everyone — rich or poor — has these communication and information tools in their homes. It will soon be the same for Internet access, contends Leah Kinnaird, EdD, RN, a consultant with Creative Healthcare Management in Minneapolis.
Health care facilities must determine their position on this onslaught of data patients will pull from the Internet and bring to their physician visit. Like it or not, the Internet will shape many patients’ health care decisions and transform how patients and practitioners work together, says Kinnaird.
What should the role of the educator be? That depends on the policy of the health care organization. Many promote Internet research by making the tool available in resource centers. If the purpose of the resource center is to give people access to large amounts of information so they have the knowledge to make well-informed decisions, then the role of educators must be to teach them how to evaluate that information and use it responsibly, says Kinnaird. Ultimately, consumers need tools to use when searching for health information on their own.
In a presentation during the September 1999 conference titled Managing the Millennium: Moving Organizations Through Education and Innovation, sponsored by the Philadelphia-based Health Care Education Association, Kinnaird provided suggestions for educating patients on Internet use. The information she presented was developed to aid consumers in the Health Resource Center at Baptist Health Systems of South Florida, where Kinnaird formerly worked.
Following are a few of the educational tips Kinnaird suggests educators provide for consumers at their resource center or for those who use the Internet at home:
• Avoid using information from the Internet or any on-line service to diagnose or treat a health problem or disease without first consulting with your doctor.
• When looking for health care facts, go to Web sites that provide up-to-date, accurate, and reliable information. Reputable Web sites usually include those published by government agencies, well-known hospitals, medical centers, health advocacy groups, and organizations such as the American Heart Association in Dallas.
• Make sure you can verify who stands behind the information. Check that the authors and any contributors to a Web site post their names and credentials.
• Look to see if references and sources related to the content of the Web site are posted.
• Health care information should be up to date. If the material is several years old, it may no longer apply. Medications are continuously being developed, so it is important to check the date on which medication sites were updated. Patients should never change their medication routine without first discussing it with their doctor.
• Be wary of unsubstantiated claims made by a Web site or the use of testimonials from patients as if they were scientific evidence.
• Be wary of Web sites that have a marketing agenda and promote the sale of their own products and services.
• Be wary of Web sites that strongly emphasize one treatment plan over another.
• Be wary of health care professionals who claim they can diagnose and treat a medical condition on-line.
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