Using a Search Engine to find Health Information
• Web sites can be wonderful or terrible or somewhere in between.
• A search engine does not rate information on its quality.
• Various techniques are used to determine the number of stars a site receives but they don't necessarily reflect the quality. You need to decide whether the information you find on a web page is reliable or not.

Reliability can be gauged by consideration of:
1. The source:
• Government or University research information is usually the safest.
Information from the sources listed in the HART portal is usually reliable. Eg. Medline, Cochrane, Healthanswers.com.au etc.
• If you can't determine the credentials of the Author/s from the site then don't trust the information.
• Many good health sites are accredited (Look for the HON code icon)

2. The intention of the web page:
• A web page designed to sell a product may be likely to contain biased information.
• A web page created by a team of health specialists and sponsored by a group of large companies is likely to be credible. Each has a reputation to protect. (Bear in mind that anybody can claim anything on the web.)

3. The overall quality of the site also gives a gauge:
Someone with dubious motives is probably not going to create a 200 page site.

4. Verification within the site:
When new information has been found from a health site, VERIFY the quality of that site by checking its information on a variety of other topics you know something about.

5. Verification with other sites:
If possible verify your new information somewhere else reputable.

I personally start by searching either:

www.google.com or www.ixquick.com

Colin Denney (Pharmacist)