Access to Credible Medical Information 2

Access to Credible Medical Information
Introduction
In today’s world, sharing of knowledge is rapid and careful analysis needs to be done to identify credible information. Medical literature has become popular especially in publications. Some clinicians do not have access to new information at the same speed. Clinicians are always in need of information while physicians have an information gap for two of every three patients served.

Meaning of access to Information
Access to information means getting high-quality information. The information should be easy to find, trustworthy and consistent, in a simple language understood by the user, and at the level required by the user. Information access means having the freedom and ability to identify, select and efficiently make use of information.

How to determine Credibility
Credibility is done through the evaluation of websites. The author of a website must be a journalist and has verifiable details. The article must give a publishing date and be up to date. New reports aren’t required to have citations, but a good website must give links for further reading on the subject matter (Bedrick, 2010). An article must also have a publisher who can take responsibility for their content and known to be credible. It is also determined when the information is complete and accurate.

How to share Healthcare Information
Health on the Net foundation was formed to allow the sharing of quality health information for patients and professionals and the public.

It also provides access to the latest and updated medical information for use through the internet. The foundation is issued with a certification that allows the website to post verifiable information (Wangberg, Andreassen, Kummervold, Wynn & Sørensen, 2009). This is meant to improve its usefulness and objectivity of the information. However, HON is not in a position to guarantee the accuracy of the information on their site, but their seal announces their intention to contribute to access to quality medical information (Our commitment to reliable health and medical information, 2018). This foundation is a Non-Governmental organization that is famous for its pioneering work in the medical field.

Lesson learned from this Assignment
I discovered that not all websites are credible. There are ways to identify a trustworthy website that would lead to credible information. One can easily be manipulated with fake medical data if one is not careful. HON foundation does a great job by providing verifiable information to the health professionals and the general public. This assignment has been an eye-opener on the medical literature.

How the Information in the Clinical or Administrative Practice can be used
Medical information is useful when making informed, evidence-based decisions concerning patient care. Data also helps to support or reinforce the existing body of knowledge. Administrative staff can access and filter this information through desktop applications. It is also used to make decisions on new payments and to avoid delays in administering treatment (Wangberg et al. 2009). Clinicians require information to avoid avoidable diagnostic tests and referring patients to their colleagues in search of another opinion. It reassures a clinician that his/her planned course of action is correct (Hersh et al. 1998).

Conclusion
The quality of the information found on the internet is crucial: accurate medical information is essential while fake details can turn out to be harmful. Clinicians often are reluctant to inappropriate clinical requests obtained from the internet for fear of damaging their relationship with patients or the negative effect of not doing the research. Some clinicians feel challenged by some patients who bring health information when they require treatment (Murray et al. 2003).

References
Bedrick, S. (2010). Improving access to medical literature using multilingual search interfaces. MEDINFO, 2010, 1502.
Hersh, W. R., & Hickam, D. H. (1998). How well do physicians use electronic information retrieval systems?: A framework for investigation and systematic review. Jama, 280(15), 1347-1352.
Murray, E., Lo, B., Pollack, L., Donelan, K., Catania, J., Lee, K., & Turner, R. (2003). The impact of health information on the Internet on health care and the physician-patient relationship: national US survey among 1.050 US physicians. Journal of medical Internet research, 5(3).
Our commitment to reliable health and medical information. (2018).  Hon.ch. Retrieved 11 January 2018, from https://www.hon.ch/HONcode/Pro/Visitor/visitor.htmlWangberg, S., Andreassen, H., Kummervold, P., Wynn, R., & Sørensen, T. (2009). Use of the internet for health purposes: trends in Norway 2000–2010. Scandinavian journal of caring sciences, 23(4), 691-696.