How to Find Quality Health Information? Presented by Aida FARHA Medical Information Specialist Saab Medical Library aida.farha@aub.edu.lb.

How to Find Quality Health Information?

Presented by

Aida FARHA

Medical Information Specialist

Saab Medical Library

aida.farha@aub.edu.lb

Do You Really Need It ?!?!

Impact of Information – Rochester study changes choice of medication 45% and diagnosis 29%

“An informed patient is a better patient”

“Health is responsibility of provider & patient”

Quality Information…When Needed

Saves patients’ lives,

& Health-care costs

Tsunami of InformationMedical literature doubles every 7 yrs.

5000 med articles/day

>120 000 STM journals.

Sources of Health InformationHealthcare

Professionals & consumers:

May 2005

8 out of 10 Web searches were

for health;

But how much of this info can be trusted???

Most Popular Topics Depression 19% Allergies/Sinus 16% Cancer 15% Bipolar Disorders 14% Arthritis 10% High Blood Pressure 10% …

Lebanese Statistics

Jan 2008 Survey: 75% of Lebanese physicians have access to Internet, 56% access it more than once per week;

No statistics for Lebanese consumers.

Healthcare practice is an uncertain and constantly changing activity

We do much un-indicated care; & much of indicated care is not done, ex. Half of US patients with diabetes, asthma or hypertension receive recommended care, NEJM 2003.

Kill 3 jumbo-jet loads of patients every two days, JAMA 1994.

35% of all preventable adverse drug events are directly related to inadequate dissemination of drug info, JAMA 1995

10% of new drugs are withdrawn or relabeled, JAMA 2002.

Very important to be up-to-date

Information is Needed for EBM

Randomized Controlled Trial

Consumer Health@SML

SML e-Databases has a number of reliable consumer health resources (some are for free and others are though subscription).

Most important one is:MedlinePlus.gov

Search Google.comBoolean (default AND) “phrase search” inurl:.gov inurl:.edu inurl:.org filetype:pdf Translation [arabic] ~work satisfactiondefine:infection

Advise: use Google if you do not find anything @SML, but remember to do evaluation of sites retrieved…

Evaluate Sites – What to look for

Site Source Foundation of specific

disease:- Amer Cancer Society- Amer Lung Association

Recognized health organizations:- Amer Academy of Family

Physicians (AAFP)- Food Drug Admin (FDA)

Site Address .gov .org .edu

Site Owner-Harvard School of

Medicine-Mayo Clinic

Site Date last updated…

Tips for Healthy Surfing Find out if the site is professionally managed

and reviewed by an editorial board of experts Find out if author lists credentials, contact

information, affiliation Use your common sense…

AVOID… Avoid sites that promote or sell

products Avoid sites that claim “miraculous

cures” Avoid outdated sites Avoid online physicians who diagnose

or treat without physical examination and knowing your medical history

Look for HON CertificationMany reliable sites have a seal of

certification from a trusted accrediting organization ex. Health On the Net Foundation (HON)

HOWEVER…

Information provided on the Internet is meant to complement and NOT replace any advice or directions provided by your healthcare professional…

If information you get from Internet contradicts your physician’s directions, you should discuss this issue with him, before taking action…

What Physicians Search

Most widely used tools by physicians: PubMed (from SML databases) UpToDate (from SML databases) Cochrane (for evidence) Google…

Thank You, Any Questions…