Website Critique

Assignment #3: Website Criticism
Surinder Kaur, 3479968
Bachelor of Nursing, Athabasca University
Nursing 322: Nursing Informatics
Willy Fahlman
September, 2020
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NURS 322 Assignment 3: Website Criticism
Easily accessible information at the click of a button is now indispensable in the
health care system. Without information technology, the healthcare system would be
more prone to incidents/accidents. Health literacy, the ability to access medical
information through a wide Internet database may help maintain the desired standards of
health care and improve its outcomes (Chen, et al., 2018, p.724). The patient and family
can also access medical resources to help for better understanding the situation in the
context of care. Health Care Worker (HCW), similarly, may tailor nursing interventions
appropriate to the patient using evidenced-informed practices. These practices create a
holistic framework in which the patient and the family are main actors in the nursing care
of the patient. However, with such a wide database of information, it is the nurse’s
responsibility to verify the accuracy of the information received by the patient through
Internet searches. When it comes down to it, it is important to verify the source of
information. Elements such as the provider, funding, quality and privacy of a literature
can be used to analyze and validate the health websites. For example, Mayo clinic a
famous medical website, which is widely used by patients and health care professions.
Easy to understand and widely accessible to the public, Mayo Clinic is a nonprofit
organization designed for providing health information as well as clinical practice,
education and research. This will be evaluated according to specific criterion in the
following pages.
Rationale for Evaluation of Website Information
Review of the source of literature from which information is drawn in a health care
field may determine the nursing action plan for a patient. eHealth literacy has emerged as a
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valuable tool to improve and enhance health knowledge and behavior (Rennis, et al., 2015,
p. 414). It is unreasonable to expect every health care professional to be knowledgeable in
every domain of the medical field. That said, using eLiterature may support the physical
findings and answer questions that any health care professional may have in their own
settings. On the other hand, “the nurse also uses information technology to provide health
teaching and health promotion and disease prevention information to patients in a variety
of settings” (Davis Boykins, 2014, p. 43). However, many criterions should be evaluated
before the information is used in a context of care by a health care professional. It is
important to assess the reliability of a source because Internet health information may not
be accurate nor specific enough, which would lead to potential incidents. In a technology,
where anyone can create websites, it is important to evaluate the quality and accuracy of
the health information to provide the best patient-centered care and to make health
decision. That said, health literacy is the degree to which individuals have the capacity to
obtain, process, and understand basic health information and services needed to make
appropriate health decisions (Davis Boykins, 2014, p. 41).
Brief Summary of the Website
The selected website, Mayo Clinic, is designed by multidisciplinary medical team to
provide high quality care to patients, educate students. The health information from Mayo
clinic website is used to assess information about diseases, diagnosis, treatments and
drugs by nursing students, medical students and health care professionals as well as other
people support any relevant findings related to the topic (Mayo Clinic, 2020, p.1). With
just a few clicks, online users can find health information from Mayo clinic website and
use it to make health related decision. The targeted audience is a nonspecific and wide.
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Mayo Clinic is a website designed for the general population and its level of medical
language proficiency is kept minimal and simple. All in all, Mayo Clinic may be a
resourceful database for condensed and simple medical searches intended for the average
audience. (Mayo Clinic, 2020, p.1).
Website Evaluation Tools and its Purpose
A reliable source of information may guide the health care professional towards
maintaining standards of a holistic care and work towards the goals shared by the HCW
and the patient. Health information that is evidence-based, up to date, peer reviewed,
recognized by medical associations and accurate are components that will enhance the
availability and accessibility of informatic tools in a health care and cater to the patient’s
individual needs (Health websites and reliability components. (n.d.), p.29). Up to date
information within the last ten years will ensure the relevance of the information and the
validity from other associations will ensure that the information is correct. In the case of
Mayo Clinic, it is important to process these elements to verify its reliability: “provider,
funding, privacy and information quality.
Use of Criteria for Evaluating the Quality of the Internet Health Information
The reliability process of evaluating a good source is contingent upon determining
the “provider, purpose, funding, accuracy, currency and confidentiality (Health websites
and reliability components, (n.d.), p. 3). The provider of Mayo Clinic is Gianrico
Farrugia, M.D, the president and chief executive officer. This website is run in five
states of United States by medical expertise, physicians and administrators, with a
purpose of a non-profit organization “to educate the public on disease prevention and
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healthy living” (p.4). The quality of the information content is upheld by a qualified team
of medical experts. The information is reviewed and updated and the updated date is
always stamped on the selected medical page. Accuracy of the content of Mayo Clinic
needs to reflect the expert knowledge of the medical team and the author of the site, who
in this case, are well situated to offer their intel and an update of the content ensure the
relevance of current medical practices and information. (Mayo Clinic, 2020, p.1). Mayo
Clinic is also funded by the government and receives about $634 million in research,
which would indicate that all information is evidence-based and well recognized by a
reliable source, the government itself. Without funding, it would limit the scope of
research towards improving and updating vital information. (Mayo Clinic, 2020, p.1).
Mayo Clinic is also used as a source of reference by other recognized organizations and
associations. Mayo Clinic’s policy on advertisement operated under strict guidelines. The
selection of wording, images, audience is reviewed and revised by the editorial board.
(Mayo Clinic, 2020, p.1). (p. 15). Their advertisement is also always labeled under their
company name. Currency meaning when website is first written and last updated. Mayo
clinic is first introduced in 1819 and last updated in 2020 (Mayo Clinic, 2020, p.1). When
it comes to using patient’s personal information for medical researches, the
confidentiality policy is enacted to protect the privacy of patient’s information and rights.
Mayo Clinic needs to receive consent from patient to use the information as intended.
The patient associated with Mayo clinic received letter to get permission to use personal
information and health record for research or other advertising opportunities. (Mayo
Clinic, 2020, p.1).
Equally Importance of Criteria for Evaluating Website
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Internet information can be used effectively if user is able to evaluate the website
health information. I believe that all the criteria’s, which includes information quality,
privacy, provider and funding are equally important criteria. Although health information
is widely available and accessible to all Internet users, privacy of clients may be
compromised in medical advertisement, information may be misleading or inaccurate or
medical services may not be recognized by healthcare domain. Protecting privacy,
accuracy, and medical information is especially essential to mitigate errors considering
the targeted client of those medical and nursing treatments are vulnerable individuals.
Peer reviews by licensed healthcare practitioners, review processes, evidence-informed
practices, up to date information, and recognition from other reliable sources or
organizations, funding are important aspects to consider.
Conclusion
Nursing is one the health care professions, which provides health care delivery and
provides knowledge to the patient by using information technology contingent upon
certain criteria, such as funding, privacy and quality of information and more tools to
help the health consumers evaluate the website. One of the tools assessed, Mayo Clinic
may be used in the health care context to help mitigate errors. For the same reasons, it is
important to assess the reliability of any source that is to be used in the context of health
to treat vulnerable clients. Given that it responds to every criterion, it is possible to say
that Mayo Clinic is a reliable source of information.
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References
Barr, N. G., & Randall, G. E. (2019). Protection of digital health information: Examining
guidance from the physician regulatory colleges in Canada. Health Information
Management : Journal of the Health Information Management
https://doi.org/10.1177/1833358319873968
Chen, X., Hay, J. L., Waters, E. A., Kiviniemi, M. T., Biddle, C., Schofield, E., Li, Y.,
Kaphingst, K., & Orom, H. (2018). Health Literacy and Use and Trust in Health
Information. Journal of Health Communication, 23(8), 724–734.
https://doi.org/10.1080/10810730.2018.1511658
Davis Boykins, A. (2014). Core communication competencies in patient-centered
care. ABNF Journal, 25(2), 40-45.
http://search.ebscohost.com.aupac.lib.athabascau.ca/login.aspx?
direct=true&db=rzh&AN=107842830&site=eds-live
Health websites and reliability components. (n.d.).
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/29468166_Health_websites_and_reliabil_
components
Mayo Clinic – Mayo Clinic. (2020). https://www.mayoclinic.org
Rennis, L., McNamara, G., Seidel, E., & Shneyderman, Y., (2015). Google it! Urban
community college students’ use of the Internet to obtain self-care and personal
health information. College Student Journal, 49(3), 414-426
Schwartz, F. (2018, March 6). Health literacy.
https://www.publichealthontario.ca/en/LearningAndDevelopment/EventPresentations/He
alth%20Literacy%20PHO%20Grand%20Rounds%20March%206.pdf
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