Access to Credible Medical Information

Access to Credible Medical Information

Access to Credible Medical Information In contemporary times, there is much information on the internet, basically, on any subject imaginable. However, the authenticity of the information remains an issue worth consideration (“Cite a Website – Cite This For Me,” 2018). Much of the information on the internet is incorrect; this may be a reason of the author’s prejudices. It takes a keen eye and literacy on the identification of the right sources of information to properly utilize the available data.

Access to information may occur through the internet or via the traditional way that is the library. The ability or freedom to identify, obtain and make use of information is what constitutes that act of access to information. Access to information is a limited right that governments do not allow its free exercise. Some internet sites cannot get accessed in some countries; hence a person in a country like Iran does not have access to information like a citizen or resident in the USA.
Not all information on the internet is credible. On the internet, some of the reliable websites are those run by organizations, multinationals, professional bodies, schools, and research organizations. In addition to knowing the author of the information, credible literature should provide citations and links to external sources for further reading (“Our commitment to reliable health and medical information,” 2018). Credible sites consist of a publisher, date of publication, and the author of the article.

Publishers exist to take responsibility if the article prompts an investigation. Some websites provide links to external sites, but it happens they never redirect to credible sites but aim to generate traffic. For credible information, always the publisher agrees to take responsibility for the information published (“Cite a Website – Cite This For Me,” 2018).

Sharing of healthcare information takes the forms of scholarly articles, websites, books, e-books, and any other kind that information disbursement takes. Sites like ‘WebMed’ provide a lot of healthcare information for professionals, researchers, and patients. Medical journals also offer reliable healthcare information; some of the journals are “The New England Journal of Medicine,” “The Journal of Pediatrics,” and “Journal of Biomedical Science” among others (Hanbury, nd.). The discussed modes among many others help in the dissemination of healthcare information.

In the course of writing the assignment, discoveries got made. Some of the findings included, not all websites on the internet provide reliable information. It was never clear to me that there was credibility attached to communication on the internet. From the assignment, any info to be sued in any future endeavors would undergo the vetting process learned.
As much as information found on the internet should not substitute what one learns in school as a healthcare professional, there is always a reason to refer. It may happen that when referencing one borrows information from the internet that is not correct, hence, by the writing of this assignment, I know the proper places to find information (Hanbury, nd.).

Like in any market, not all that gets displayed is fit for consumption. The same applies to the information found online. People tend to put up information on their websites, and that information has got laces of the author’s prejudices. It is proper for medical practitioners, researchers, students, and patients need to get educated on the importance of vetting sources before using the information therein. However, there are credible sources to get healthcare information; they may never satisfy the needs of the researcher; thus, there is need to know from which websites to get information. Writing of this assignment helped me understand that not all data on the internet is right for consumption.

References
Cite a Website – Cite This For Me. (2018). Media.easybib.com. Retrieved 21 January 2018, from http://media.easybib.com/ebook/mla_websiteeval.pdf
Hanbury, A. Khresmoi–Towards improved medical information access.
Our commitment to reliable health and medical information. (2018). Hon.ch. Retrieved 21 January 2018, from http://www.hon.ch/HONcode/Pro/Visitor/visitor.html