Evaluating Medical Websites

A guide to evaluating medical information found on the Internet

Patient Role
Patients have the time and the motivation to find information that related to their own health.

Physician Role
In this age of information, a physician is an interpreter of information as well as playing the traditional role as a provider of information.

Medical Information on the Internet
The Internet provides a wide range of excellent medical information. But this "gold" is mixed with an even larger pile of "gravel" which includes trivial, confusing, or erroneous information.

Ask to see a printed copy of the information
Don’t rely on a patient’s opinion of what they read – it may have been read out of context. This approach also buys you some time to do your own research on the topic!

Ask to see a printout of the main page of the Internet site
This should show the Internet address where the information was obtained. If you refer to this as the "URL" or "Unique Resource Locator", you will impress your Internet literate patients. The URL is usually printed in the upper right corner of any document printed from a website. You can often "dissect" this address to find information about the sponsor or the author.

What is the name of the host computer?
This is the first part of the address, following the double backslashes (/). This may tell you something about who is sponsoring the information. For instance, the Alberta Medical Association website address is http://www.albertadoctors.org.

What is the Domain name?
The domain is the last part of the host name. The ".ca" at the end of the address identifies a Canadian site. Other common country identifiers are ".uk" (United Kingdom) and ".au" (Australia). USA sites do not have a country identifier, because the Internet was started as a US-only network. An ".edu" domain represents a US educational institution. The ".gov" domain is a US government site. American (and some Canadian) non-profit organizations may end in ".org". The ".com" ending represents a commercial site.

Personal Websites
The tilde (~) character followed by characters that resemble a person’s name suggests that an individual provided the information. The example below is my own site, which provides information about Calgary’s folk music clubs. However because I control the content, I "could" claim that listening to folk music cures cancer. Just send me the contents of your bank account and I will send you my secret listening method. Order today and I will throw in a free cassette of selected tunes to begin your therapy. My tunes will work better than those of competing brands! Caveat Emptor!

Who sponsors the website?
Websites cost money to maintain. Ethical sponsorship will be identified on the main page of the website. Is the e-mail address or street address of the sponsor listed?

Who authored the information?
A good website will list the e-mail address of the author. In poorly designed websites, the address may be present but hidden in a sub-page. Better websites will list a street address where the author or sponsor may be contacted. Be wary f the address is only a box number.

How current is the information?
Does the site list when each page was last updated? A good website will display when each page was last updated. Failing this, the date should at least appear on the main page.  Most Internet search engine programs can be set to exclude websites that have not been recently updated.

Is the site well organized and readable?
Some sites are all show and no substance. Other sites have some useful information but it is so disorganized that it is difficult to find.

Is the information valid?
Does the site list other sources of information on the topic? Do they claim to have the "only" answer? A good website will list literature or textbook citations to support their statements. A questionable site may list an authority’s name, but give no information about how to contact them. Be wary if you see vague phrases such as "used in Europe for years".

Does the information apply to your patient?
This is where the physician can be of the most benefit to the patient. Much of the information on the Internet comes from the USA, where many treatments and diagnostic procedures are more heavily influenced by economics and medico-legal concerns.