Internet Healthcare
Introduction
There are very many internet sites which
provide information related to healthcare; whereby some are genuine while others
provide misleading information. Therefore, people should be cautioned against
relying entirely on all the information they obtain from the internet sites.
Internet sites which offer
legitimate health related information
These
websites provide information based on research and consultation of highly qualified
personnel in the medical sector. Therefore, the information provided is based
on facts about the human body hence being reliable in ensuring a good health.
They include; www.webmd.com, www.healthcentral.com, www.wrongdiagnosis.com, www.drkoop.com, and www.answermed.com.
Internet sites which offer
questionable health related information
There are other sites which provide unreliable
information due to lack of proper research methods or dependency on unreliable
sources for information. This results to provision of misleading information
which affects many people who access them for consultation. These sites
include; www.curezone.com, www.garynull.com, www.mercola.com, www.drclark.com, and www.orthomed.com.
How to analyze internet information
to ascertain its value and reliability
The APN could have helped the family to analyze
the information by determining the qualification of the people who conducted
the research in order to provide the information. He should have advised the
family to be keen when reading internet information to avoid being misled by
unqualified researchers (Golanty, 2004).
Advantages and Disadvantages of
discussion boards and support groups on internet
Advantages
1. They
help people to seek guidance online about various matters affecting them.
2. They
act as a social interface hence enabling many people to interact with one
another.
3. They
provide different ways of solving problems due to availability of many opinions
from different people.
Disadvantages
1.
They may provide misleading information
since they are used by many different people.
2.
They can be used maliciously to
propagate ill speeches against other internet users.
How to improve the quality of information
found on internet
The APN can improve the quality of the information found on
internet through stating the facts about the vaccines which the family was
debating on. By listening to their claims, he was able to identify the facts
and misconceptions which they had concerning the healthcare matter. Therefore,
he should have advised them by giving examples from various researches which
have been conducted on the vaccines (Mayo
Clinic, 1990).
Work Cited
Golanty, E. (2004). Health
and Wellness. New York: Jones $ Bartlett Publishers.
Mayo Clinic. (1990). Mayo
Clinic Family Health Book. New York: Mayo Publishers.
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