Role of Information Available Over the Internet: What are the Parents of Children Undergoing Tonsillectomy Likely to Find?

Abstract

Ann RC oll Surg Engl 2008; 90:6 01-605 601The explosion of internet usage by patients and the amount of healthcare information publicly available has led to new challenges for practising physicians. 1,2 The information available from at hird party has important implications for the doctor-patient relationship and can be used to enhance the healthcare experience. 2,3 Freedom of information on the internet dictates that anyone can publish information. Therefore, there is ar isk that such information, through ignorance or bias, may be incorrect or misleading. [4][5][6] Information of dubious quality or that is commercially motivated can be misleading, or even potentially lethal. 7,8 Many tools are available to assess healthcare information on the internet and, although there is consensus on key criteria, they are still being developed. 9-11 The LIDA Instrument is avalidated method of evaluating healthcare websites based on three important areas -a ccessibility,u sability and reliability. 12 Search engines are the most commonly used method to find information on the world wide web. Information exists about the usage characteristics of search engines in the UK. Ratings such as the Neilson'sN et rating 13 provide data for the most widely used search engines, and patterns therein. The five most visited search engines (Google, Yahoo, MSN, AOL and AskJeeves) field >9 0% of all search questions according to these surveys. Although searches often reveal thousands of links, at ypical user is likely to visit the most The aim of this studyw as to assess the quality of information available on the world wide web to parents of children undergoing tonsillectomy. HEAD &N ECK

Quality evaluation of the available Internet information regarding pain during orthodontic treatment

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Consulting Dr. Google: Quality of Online Resources About Tympanostomy Tube Placement

“…Previous studies have illustrated the heterogeneity of online patient education materials, similar to our findings in this study . The median readability grade level was at the 10th grade level, well above the 7th‐ to 8th‐grade level recommended by the NIH health literacy guidelines for health materials .…”

“…There have been several studies in the otolaryngology literature evaluating online resources that have found wide heterogeneity in information regarding surgical procedures, including tonsillectomy, Zenker's diverticulum, and thyroidectomy . We seek to evaluate the online resources and educational materials available for the most commonly performed otolaryngologic surgery in children: TT placement.…”

The Development of a CD-ROM: An Aid to Fetal Cardiac Diagnosis and Counseling

“…In addition, only the abnormality diagnosed in their fetus was provided to the parent, rather than burdening them with additional knowledge of other cardiac abnormalities so readily available on the internet. Such a wealth of information on the internet, often unvetted, can be very confusing for parents [5,6]. In contrast, the information provided to our parents was specific to the condition under question and included the planned interventions, their timing, and the outcomes based on local data, and not those potentially available at the best centers internationally.…”