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<\/p>\nPrinceton,NJ\/ 360prwire\/ November 26\/<\/p>\n
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(Source: https:\/\/www.pexels.com\/de-de\/foto\/frau-im-weissen-hemd-das-coronavirus-nachrichten-liest-4185957\/)<\/span><\/p>\n Getting information about health topics online is controversial. While some fear it creates hypochondriacs, at the same time it is undeniably a helpful tool for educating yourself about the things medical professionals overlook. Many diagnoses to conditions that are chronically under diagnosed \u2014 as is the case with <\/span>autism<\/span><\/a> in girls and grown-ups \u2014 must be fought for by the patients themselves. To figure out what is wrong with them, they need access to trustworthy health information. If you need to read up on medical issues online, here\u2019s what to look out for.<\/span><\/p>\n It is a relatively new tradition that anybody can look up any information they want<\/b>. Before the internet, this knowledge was restricted. You could find it in libraries and universities. Even further back, if you were black or female, you had no access to some information at all.<\/span><\/p>\n It is important to think about how knowledge used to spread before it became readily available for anybody. Especially when you look at medical professionals and their opinion on self-diagnosis and the like. When you spend many years and a lot of money on studying a topic,<\/span> it would insult just about anybody is somebody came to you after a quick Google search thinking they know better.<\/b><\/p>\n But the thing is, <\/span>sometimes they <\/b>DO<\/i><\/b> know better.<\/b> Because they have the best insight into what they experience, and no theoretical knowledge can ever emulate that. And now, on top of that, they have much of the same information at hand that used to be taught in universities exclusively. It is not that doctors are getting outwitted by amateurs. But rather that these people have much more time on their hands to pick their problems apart and read up on them, while <\/span>medical professionals \u2014 sadly \u2014 have very limited time to spend on individual patients.<\/b><\/p>\n What this is meaning to say is: <\/span>health information on the internet can be incredibly useful, lifesaving even.<\/b> But that is only the case if that information is correct and comes from a trustworthy source. During COVID-19, we have seen plenty of <\/span>damaging advice<\/b>. Not all of it was malicious and came from people who did not fact-check or looked at fake sources. <\/span>To determine what is good information, there are three things you can keep in mind:<\/b><\/p>\n There are <\/span>trustworthy and untrustworthy sites<\/b> on the internet, and you will have to weed the bad ones out yourself. Here are some hints on how to do that:<\/span><\/p>\n A URL can end with all kinds of words. Some of them tell you that the website is hosted by a credible organization.<\/span><\/p>\n A good example (and more information on this article\u2019s topic) is this <\/span>tutorial<\/span><\/a> on <\/span>evaluating health information<\/b> created by <\/span>The National Library of Medicine<\/span><\/i>.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Websites with other endings can be helpful too. A site like<\/span> healthweb.digital<\/span><\/a> collects heath information in thematically sorted articles. These are a base for further research and should always be followed up by fact-checking.<\/span><\/p>\n Who wrote the article? What are their credentials? Are they medical professionals? This especially important if there are no or barely any sources mentioned in the article.<\/span><\/p>\n Credible websites will always have an About or Contact section where you find additional information about the owner or the organization. It is a good sign if you find a way to contact them. Untrustworthy sites often don\u2019t add any contact info at all.<\/span><\/p>\n Sources are the most important thing when it comes to health information.<\/b> A good article should always make it clear what their information is based on. Some add the sources as a list at the bottom of the text. Some put links to their sources in the text itself. <\/span>An article that has no sources at all is questionable at best<\/b>, if it hasn\u2019t been written by an academic expert on the topic.<\/span><\/p>\n Scientific studies are the single most helpful source you can find.<\/b> The information you find here was written under academic standards and was tested according to all the necessary scientific regulations.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Other good sources are <\/span>medical textbooks.<\/b><\/p>\n When looking at articles and the mentioned sources and references, always make sure to <\/span>check the date<\/b>. If it is multiple years old, the information might be outdated and disproven by now.<\/span><\/p>\n You can ask yourself what the purpose of medical information is.<\/span> It is supposed to educate you. There is next to no entertainment value in that.<\/b> Be wary of content that is overly dramatic, surprising, or entertaining in any other way. While health information can surely be written in an entertaining way, the content with the most important information is usually rather scientific and formal.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n The post Online health information \u2014 what can you trust?<\/a> appeared first on 360PRWire<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Princeton,NJ\/ 360prwire\/ November 26\/ (Source: https:\/\/www.pexels.com\/de-de\/foto\/frau-im-weissen-hemd-das-coronavirus-nachrichten-liest-4185957\/) Getting information about health topics online is controversial. While some fear it creates hypochondriacs, at the same time it is undeniably a helpful tool for educating yourself about the things medical professionals overlook. Many diagnoses to conditions that are chronically under diagnosed — as is the case with autism …<\/p>\n Online health information — what can you trust?<\/span> Read More »<\/a><\/p>\n The post Online health information — what can you trust?<\/a> appeared first on 360PRWire<\/a>.<\/p>\nHow to Find Trustworthy Health Information from the Internet<\/b><\/h2>\n
Where is it from?<\/b><\/h3>\n
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What information is the article based on?<\/b><\/h3>\n
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It is not written to entertain, entice, or surprise you<\/b><\/h3>\n
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Tips for using search engines<\/b><\/h2>\n
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