Should We Trust Online Medical Information?

who writes your medical information online?

The internet continues to dazzle me with its expansive reach, ability to bring together communities and provide educational information. An outstanding example of the usefulness of the internet is that I can now, with no prior experience, smoke St. Louis style ribs that are second to none. One of the most beautiful aspects of the internet is it gives everyone a platform to share experiences and knowledge. However, one of the most problematic aspects, is it gives everyone a platform to share experiences and knowledge. Simply explained, I can learn to make ribs, learn how to create a Web site and find old friends online. I can also learn, if I choose to, how to make destructive devices and print 3-D weapons.

In life, we always have to take the bad with the good. It is typically up to each individual to decide which path to choose. There is a difference when presenting online medical information. For some reason, speaking face to face with a physician is no longer the gold standard. It is also certainly not en vogue. Most people, nowadays, go straight to the internet with the first indication of any new symptom. What is the overwhelming response to that search? They have cancer. Well, maybe not.

Let’s look at who is actually writing the medical information that people are actually reading online. Is it a drug company, journalist, blogger, marketing professional or God forbid Dr. Oz? One thing is for sure; it is likely not written by a physician. This isn’t to say that there isn’t a role for patient education sites and information from drug companies. This isn’t to say that there isn’t a role for people to voice their opinions. This is to say that these need to be regarded as such, and not viewed as accurate, peer-reviewed, researched medical information. In fact, it was a blog article entitled “Accuracy of Medical Information on the Internet” by Jalees Rehman that brought this issue to light, for me. The article discusses a study, performed by Dr. Rachel Moon and colleagues, on safe infant sleep recommendations provided by the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP). The study found that only 43.5% of 1300 websites analyzed contained recommendations in line with the recommendations of the AAP. Educational websites had only 50.2% accurate information while blogs and individual websites had accuracy of only 25.7% and 30.3%, respectively.

Numerous other studies, in various fields, can be found on PubMed search and show an alarming rate of misinformation, lack of information and other inaccuracies. As early as 2000, in The Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery, a study by Dr. Bernstein and colleagues showed 33% of the sites searched for “carpal tunnel syndrome” sold commercial products related to carpal tunnel syndrome. Another 30% were commercial sites not selling products, and only 23% of sites had information authored by a physician or academic organization. 23% of the sites offered unconventional or misleading information.

Another facet to this perpetuating problem is that there are web development companies and software companies that provide “medical content” for physician practice sites. The quality and accuracy of this information is currently unknown. In fact, on a quick review of New Jersey orthopaedic surgery practice sites, there is minimal content that is directly authored by a physician.

This is highly detrimental to the education of the public as they start the learning process with potential misinformation as a baseline. Things need to change quickly and physicians need to take back control of providing online medical information to the general public.

Three things to accomplish:

• There needs to be accountability for providing the information. Just because it is present online and published, does not make it accurate.
• There needs to be referencing of research and other articles where the information is being collected.
• There needs to be a peer-review process to ensure the information is accurate and without bias.

Without these things, patients will continue to be confused, uneducated and deceived to spend money on unnecessary tests and products. Remember an old wise man once said and we, as physicians, reiterated the words, “First, do no harm.”

Bio

Dr. Doumas is a board certified, fellowship trained hand and upper extremity surgeon acting as Clinical Assistant Professor of Orthopaedic Surgery at Rutgers Medical School: Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital and Chief of Hand Surgery at Jersey Shore University Medical Center. He recently founded LibraryOfMedicine.com, a global healthcare initiative allowing doctors the opportunity to take back control of providing online medical information to better educate the general public.

References

1. Rehman J. “Accuracy of Medical Information on the Internet” Scientific American. August 2, 2012. http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/guest-blog/2012/08/02/accuracy-of-medical-information-on-the-internet/
2. Chung M, Oden RP, Joyner BL, Sims A, Moon R. Safe infant sleep recommendations on the internet: Let’s Google it. J Pediatr 2012:161:1080-4.
3. Beredjiklian PK, Bozentka DJ, Steinberg DR, Bernstein J. Evaluating the source and content of orthopaedic information on the internet. J Bone and Joint Surg Am. 2000;82:1540-3.