biology

Health information on the Internet

Health information on the Internet is a biology topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Health information on the Internet rather than just read about it. In short: Health information on the Internet refers to all health-related information communicated through or available on the Internet. Description The Internet is widely used by the general public as a tool for finding health information.

Key takeaways

Health information on the Internet belongs to biology; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Health information on the Internet to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Health information on the Internet from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Health information on the Internet refers to all health-related information communicated through or available on the Internet.

Description The Internet is widely used by the general public as a tool for finding health information. In the late 1990s, researchers noted an increase in Internet users' access to health-related content despite the variation in the quality of information, level of accessibility, and overall health literacy. Access to health information does not guarantee understanding, as health literacy of individuals vary. It is believed patients who know their medical history may learn and interpret this information in a way that benefits them. This, however, is not always the case because online health information is not always peer reviewed. Physicians worry that patients who conduct Internet research on their medical history are at a risk of being misinformed. In 2013, the opinions about the relationship between health care providers and online health information were still being established. According to a 2014 study, "The flow of information has fundamentally changed, and physicians have less control over health information relayed to patients. Not surprisingly, this paradigm shift has elicited varied and sometimes conflicting views about the value of the Internet as a tool to improve health care."

Importance of the physician-patient relationship In cases in which a physician has difficulty explaining complicated medical concepts to a patient, that patient may be inclined to seek information on the internet. A consensus exists that patients should have shared decision making, meaning that patients should be able to make informed decisions about the direction of their medical treatment in collaboration with their physician. Rich, educated, and socially advantaged patients may enjoy the benefits of the shared decision-making approach more than those with a lower socioeconomic class or minority status. Patients' naive understanding of their health contributes to a range of issues, including the tendency to deviate from the physician's medical advice or to miss medical appointments. Patients with limited access to health information are more likely to use complementary and alternative medicine, and fail to inform their physician about it. Complementary and alternative medicine may not be evidence-based medicine. While physicians can work on improving their doctor-patient communication skills, individuals can become more knowledgeable about their health through patient education programs. A study by Lorig in 2002 suggested healthcare processes can be efficiently improved with patients' behavior.

Social media

Social forums in which anyone can have conversations about health with their peers exist; these are especially popular among patients who want to talk about shared medical concerns with others. Those who participate in online communities that discuss health issues report feeling relieved about their health worries, perceiving they have more control over their health and medical condition, gaining more medical knowledge, and having more personal agency overall. Some research studies have failed to find evidence to validate the physicians' concerns about patients receiving misinformation online or using online health information to conduct self-diagnosis. Patients with chronic diseases who use the Internet to get health-related information often acquire good skills to judge the quality of information that they find. Social media platforms are considered channels physicians can use to acquire insight on their patients' thoughts. Patients have increasingly turned to social media for health information, sometimes of dubious quality. Several studies have used social media to gather data on patients' adverse drug reactions (ADRs) with generally promising results. Some commercial organizations use health information gathered from the Internet, raising serious ethical and privacy concerns, including the risk of accidental violations of the patient privacy by healthcare providers.

Health awareness

Academic medical literature The written record of peer-reviewed medical consensus is stored in scientific journals. There has been an academic journal publishing reform since the advent of electronic publishing. Although some journals have adopted an open access template for online users, other journals are opposed to a widening of open access publishing. The open-access policy has significantly increased the accessibility of professional health information to researchers, physicians, and the public through the Internet. Some of the academic medical literature, however, may not be peer-reviewed and users are advised to exercise caution when reading health-related articles from such websites.

Quality The nature of health-related information available on the Internet is complex and its quality varies greatly by source. The standards for ensuring quality control on the Internet have been criticized and no single standard is universally accepted. Many researchers have investigated this issue in detail, resulting in a wide range of theories from different disciplines. One study found that a correct diagnosis given by the average online symptom checker happened only 34% of the time. Triage recommendations (i.e., whether immediate, normal, or self-type of care is needed) were also assessed and found to be correct 50% of the time. Quality of health information on the internet becomes important in this context as both misdiagnosis and inaccurate recommendations for triage are possible. Additionally, most online diagnostic tools fail to account for the user's familial and personal medical history, including current diagnoses and conditions they possess.

… excerpt ends here. Continue reading the full article.

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Health information on the Internet

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Health information on the Internet claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In biology, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Health information on the Internet before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Health information on the Internet ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Health information on the Internet

In research: Health information on the Internet appears in biology research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Health information on the Internet in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Health information on the Internet is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Academic works about medicine, Electronic publishing, Online services, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Health information on the Internet outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Health information on the Internet in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Health information on the Internet means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Health information on the Internet out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Health information on the Internet in simple terms?

Health information on the Internet refers to all health-related information communicated through or available on the Internet. Description The Internet is widely used by the general public as a tool for finding health information.

Why does Health information on the Internet matter?

Because it connects several biology ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Health information on the Internet?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Health information on the Internet.