Three examples of unreliable medical resources

Three examples of unreliable medical resources there are plenty of medical sources throughout the World Wide Web this section will present examples of unreliable resources and how to detect those sites. Our first examples of unreliable medical sources are websites that end with .com. Of course, not all medical informational sites that end with a .com are unreliable however, this lets us know that the website is commercially run and most commercially ran sites usually sell advertising and that alone can affect the information or advice that is being offered. Moreover, to make sure you are retrieving information from a reliable site it is always important to check to see who is sponsoring the site. Any creditable site will have who is responsible for the site and its contents. (National Institutes of Health, 2007)Another example includes medical sites that require you to submit your email address and other personal information. If the site does not allow you to know how or why your information is needed, there is a chance of that site being unreliable. This common among commercial sites, they retrieve an individuals person information and sell it to other companies.

Creditable sites usually have a privacy policy that not only allows you to know why your information is being asked, but gives you the option to choose whether you will allow your information to be given to third parties connected with their site. (National Institutes of Health, 2007)Our final example of unreliable medical resources will discuss sites that house unreliable content. If a site does not identify whom the content was written by, there is a good chance the site is unreliable. Any site that house medical information should specify where they receive their facts. If the information presented is not accompanied by a valid source or opinion based it is considered invalid. (National Institutes of Health, 2007)Resources:BMJ (2005). Health information on internet is often unreliable.

References:

British Medical Journal, 321(7254), 136. RetrievedDecember 9, 2007 from Pub Med Central:http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?artid=1173379National Institutes of Health (2007, October 24). 10 Things To KnowAbout Evaluating Medical Resources on the Web. RetrievedDecember 10, 2007 from National Cancer Institute, Department ofHealth and Human Services Web site:http://nccam.nih.gov/health/webresources/