Internet Credibility, Research Paper Example

The Emergency Nurses Association

The Emergency Nurses Association (ENA) is a professional nursing organization dedicated to research and professional development. Their website can be found at www.ena.org and is formatted in a manner to provide information to nurses that work in the emergency room setting. It was originally expected that this website will fit the criteria of credibility because it runs its own professional journal and provides nurses with many resources that they can use to improve their professional practice. However, it was found that many sub-sections of the website don’t use proper citation procedures. As such, it is challenging to determine where this information was derived from. An example of this is their emergency preparedness resource, which could be found at http://www.bt.cdc.gov/preparedness/. This link was a resources listed on the practice and research section. There is a wealth of information available at this link, but it is apparent that it is a direct link to a website for another agency. As such, we cannot ascertain why this information is trusted. It would be beneficial for the website to have provided a brief synopsis of what we might find on this site instead of linking to it directly without explanation. On the other hand, the professional journal is reliable because it appears that the posted information is peer-reviewed before it is allowed online. However, it is challenging to determine the authorship of the informational articles that are not a part of the journal because no author is cited and it is challenging to simply trust the organization without knowing who wrote the article and what their credentials are.  On the other hand, the clinical practice guidelines could be trusted because many individuals author them and these individuals have expertise in the field. It is important for nurses to consider that even though these websites exist to provide them with information, many of them wish to promote themselves against other similar organizations due to financial or other benefit. Thus, some of the information provided could be considered biased in an attempt to meet their own needs.

American Nurses Association

The American Nurses Association (ANA) website is found at www.nursingworld.org and provides comprehensive information about nursing regulatory guidelines and improving practice standards. The information contained on this website is mostly cited, so it is assumed to be more trustworthy. Since the ANA is directly responsible for determining how to improve nursing practice and making relevant recommendations, it could be considered less biased than similar organizations because it is more widely accepted as the authority on nursing practice. On the other hand, the organization benefits when it receives membership fees and attendance at conferences. Therefore, there are many aspects of the website that try to convince visitors to become a member. For example, there are state and personal benefits associated with membership. Personal benefits include insurance discounts and help with financial planning. Other benefits include discounts on professional development sessions including webinars, in addition to textbooks to further practice. Although a lot of information is available online, it appears that the most significant benefit is provided to those that are members of the organization. Thus, even though the information they provide could be considered credible, their intensions are not in every situation. It is therefore important to thoroughly investigate nursing websites before assuming they are credible.

References

ANA. (n.d.). About. Retrieved from www.nursingworld.org

ENA. (n.d.). About. Retrieved from www.ena.org