Searching for health information online is overwhelming. If you're looking for health information, it's for a reason. Whether you're searching for yourself or a loved one, you may be stressed about the information that you're going to find.
There are countless sites out there with misleading information. Some are sponsored by drug companies, and some just contain incorrect information. One thing you need to remember is that you probably aren't a doctor. Some of the information you'll find won’t make sense to you. Other pieces of information will be plain wrong. You shouldn't be using the internet to diagnose yourself. However, you can use the internet to find more information about health issues.
But how do you find reputable, verifiably correct health information online?
Prepare yourself for a bit of time on the internet. When searching for health information, finding relevant and reputable information will take longer than five minutes. If you're expecting a short journey, you’re just going to end up frustrated. Grab a glass of water, something to take notes with, and get comfortable.
For many people, searching for health information starts with their favorite search engine. Doing this brings up thousands of websites from all kinds of sources. Instead of starting with a generic search engine, try a health site like the National Institutes of Health (NIH). If you’re looking for information on specific diseases, target your search to places that deal with that disease. Some of these sites include the American Cancer Society, the American Diabetes Association, the American Heart Association or the Alzheimers Association.
Perform a few quick tests. Is the information recent? In the world of medicine and health information, results should be from within the last 5 years at the absolute oldest. Even that may be a stretch. Is there a way to find sources for this information? Does it link to a government site or a research article?
Make sure you know who funds the site you’re looking at. Not every well-known health seeking site is what you think it is. WebMD, one of the first destinations for many people’s health information seeking, is funded by quite a few large pharmaceutical companies, and their content shows on many of the results pages. One way to find out about the funding of a site is to find their “About Us” page. If it isn’t easy to find, try to search, “Who funds [site name]?”
You shouldn’t believe everything you read on the internet, and no matter how much work you put in, you can never know with 100% certainty that the information you’ve found is correct. It’s important to take your doubts, questions, and any research you’ve done to your doctor. If you’ve gone to the web to verify something your doctor said and find something contradicting, it’s not wrong to find another doctor to get a second opinion.