Patient Guide To the Internet, Essay Example

The modern epoch cannot be imagined without the World Wide Web; nowadays everybody looking for some information can find a plenty of sources without leaving his or her apartment. Patients can also become active consumers of the Internet services because on getting a diagnosis they may be interested to find out the additional information on the symptoms, ways of treatment, treatment centers in which they can get help etc. Utilizing the Internet sources is a very easy skill to acquire, but each new user of the Internet should be aware of the extent of reliability that each site can offer.

There are many rules and pieces of advice offered to the beginning Internet users needing verified, trustworthy healthcare information. Here are some of them:

• Looking at the name of the site one will be able to see whether it is an organization that professionally deals with the health problem researched or only includes some information about it alongside with all other kinds (e.g. Lung Cancer Home Page – National Cancer Institute or the LungCancer.org sites are clearly dedicated solely to the problems of lung cancer and can provide information on the medical help, treatment and medical institutions available in a particular area together with any additional information);
• When choosing which sites to visit one should look at the names of the sites – Wikipedia articles do not raise any trust in researchers because they are not proofread, and any Internet user can post an article there; however, sites ending with .gov, .org or .edu show that the sites are governmental or educational and are dedicated to a single theme that is seriously treated and discussed in details;
• It is more efficient to visit the sites that are enlisted on the first page of search results – the farther the page one visits is, the less resembling to the key words the result will be; it has been empirically proven that the sites appearing on the first and second pages are the most relevant and the most intensely visited ones.

The one who has decided to learn using the Internet for finding health-related information can use the following simple tutorial on how to distinguish sites according to their credibility measures and how to find the right information they actually need.

The user should visit one of the search engines, e.g. the Google or Yahoo site and type the key word that will formulate his or her search in the most precise words. For example, it is possible to conduct research on the problem of lung cancer. To do so, one should type the words “lung cancer” in the search box and push the “enter” or “search” button.

As a result of this initial action, the user will see a list of sites that suit the key words inserted in the search engine. In the case of “lung cancer”, one will see the Lung Cancer Information Group UK Cancer Emotional Support & Advice Site at first – it is highlighted in green, which means commercial effort (i.e. advertising) was applied to pose it so high.

The second result is the “Lung Cancer” article in Wikipedia, which can give much general information on the subject but has a doubtable credibility level. Then goes the National Cancer Institute’s site – http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/ types/lung. Judging from the ending of its name, it is a federally sponsored site that cannot contain false information, which makes it a truly credible and reliable one in terms of everything connected with lung cancer.

It is important to consider such sites as http://www.lungcancer.org/ – it provides information for those who have lung cancer, for their relatives and friends, for health professionals etc. This site has created an online community united by joint interests and joint grief, or professional interest, and offers a wide variety of news, resources, training materials etc. for those interested.

The patient may also need not only communication and information, but scientific research on the topic of lung cancer – articles are usually marked with the “pdf” or “doc” sign and are downloadable for reading. They can also be easily stored on one’s computer in case the repetitive review is necessary.

References

LungCancer.org – a Program of CancerCare (2010). Retrieved April 3, 2010, from http://www.lungcancer.org/

National Cancer Institute (2010). Retrieved April 3, 2010, from http://www.cancer.g ov/cancertopics/types/lung

Lung Cancer (2010). Wikipedia Online. Retrieved April 3, 2010, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lung_cancer

Maggie’s Community Plot (2010). Retrieved April 3, 2010, from http://community.m aggiescentres.org/?utm_source=google&utm_medium=ppc&utm_campaign=Lung+Cancer+Information&gclid=CIq0l-bH6qACFVOY2Aod0S04XA