From: Portals to Wonderland: Health portals lead to confusing information about the effects of health care
Portal | Goal | Selection guidelines for included sites |
---|---|---|
Canadian Health Network | "CHN's mission is to support Canadians in making informed choices about their health, by providing access to multiple sources of credible and practical e-health information." | • Does the organization have timely and credible information on health promotion and disease prevention? • Is authorship clearly stated? • If the source is not a professionally or legally accredited authority, is there sufficient supporting information to establish an informed perspective. • If a non-professional gives medical information, is this fact clearly stated? • Are original sources clearly referenced? • Are claims relating to the benefits of a specific health promotion/disease prevention services supported by appropriate, balanced evidence? • Is the content original, and of sufficient depth to warrant a link? • Is the resource relevant to the CHN mission statement? • Is the information updated or reviewed on an adequate basis given the content? • If the resource only presents one-side of a controversial issue, is this made explicit? |
HealthInsite | "(HealthInsite) aims to improve the health of Australians by providing easy access to quality information about human health." | Sites must have a written policy and procedure that • Includes a policy that each resource is authored by a person or group with appropriate qualifications/experience • Includes a procedure for appropriate attribution of resources • Includes a review process. The policy needs to cite positions/qualifications/names of who reviews • Details the final approval process (including responsibility/qualifications) • The date of publication and, where appropriate, date of previous versions must also be given. |
Medline Plus | "MedlinePlus is designed to help you find appropriate, authoritative health information." | • The source of the content is established, respected and dependable. A list of advisory board members or consultants is published on the site. • The information provided is appropriate to the audience level, well-organized and easy to use. • Information is from primary resources (i.e., textual material, abstracts, Web pages). • The primary purpose of the Web page is educational and not to sell a product or service. • The source for the contents of the Web page(s) and the entity responsible for maintaining the Web site is clear. • Information is current or an update date is included. • The site provides unique information to the topic with a minimum of redundancy and overlap between resources. |
NHS Direct Online | To provide high quality health information and advice for the people of England and Wales | No information provided. |