Tue Feb 09 2010
A little knowledge can be a dangerous thing for older people visiting health sites on the Internet.
About 70 percent of seniors who go online say they often search for health-related information, according to the Pew Internet & American Life Project. But only 25 percent of those Web searchers said they check the source of the information or even know when it was written. This means they may be finding information that is inaccurate, dated or potentially harmful.
"Older people have a harder time keeping up with everything online," says Jean Shipman, president of the Medical Library Association. Shipman says one of the associations missions is steer searchers who feel lost or overwhelmed to reputable sites with accurate information.
Shipman says its librarians are continually searching the Web and evaluating health-related sites. For searchers looking to find the best and most accurate information, the association offers a starting point with its Top 10 Most Useful Web Sites.
The sites are:
National Cancer Institute (www.cancer.gov); Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (www.cdc.gov); American Academy of Family Physicians Center for HIV Information (hivinsite.ucsf.edu); familydoctor.org; healthfinder.gov; Nemours Center for Childrens Health (www.kidshealth.org); Mayo Clinic (www.mayoclinic.com); Medem (www.medem.com); National Library of Medicine (www.medlineplus.gov); New York Online Access to Health (www.noah-health.org).
For those searching for sites on their own, Shipman says, make sure to consider the source before following the advice. For example, many pharmaceutical companies, whose Web addresses usually end in .com, offer medical information, but the advice may be skewed to push their products.
"Look for sites that have .gov, .org or .edu as part of their names," she says. The .gov suffix means it is a government Web site. Scientific and research organizations are usually .org. Educational institutions end with .edu.
But dont automatically avoid a site with .com in its name. Medem, for example, offers credible information and a searchable online medical library. While Medem is a "dot-com," it was founded by the American Medical Association and several medical societies. When in doubt, check the "about us" or "who we are" tab most sites have.
Your searches may bring you enlightenment or leave you in the dark with information overload. "Once people find the content, the other problem besides accessing it is understanding it," Shipman says. Again, let a librarian be your guide.
To cut through the scientific and medical language, the Medical Library Association offers "Deciphering Medspeak." There are separate pamphlets on breast cancer, diabetes and heart disease. You can download them from www.mlanet.org.
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