Health Information on the Internet

Writing on how we have adapted to accessing and acquiring information using the Internet, a recent article in the New Yorker asks us to consider this conundrum: Had the first Harry Potter book The Philosopher’s Stone been published after rather than before the launch of Google, would the wizard-in-training be “Googling” for spells on a smart tablet rather than spending hours in the Hogwarts library searching for answers?1 The experience of a patient spellbound by health information gathered from the Internet arriving at a consultation is a familiar one. Responses to this situation vary, with only a few of us perceiving this as a challenge to our position. Most of us believe that it is the quality of the information that further influences the patient-physician relationship, the subsequent quality of care, and eventually health outcomes2. Prompted by such concerns about standards, many researchers have sought to quantify the quality of information on the Internet3. Not surprisingly, results have repeatedly shown that health information on the Net varies widely in accuracy and completeness, and in most instances, does not meet accepted standards of medical information as defined by the World Health Organisation Health on the … Address correspondence to Dr. Madhok. E-mail: rajan.madhok{at}northglasgow.scot.nhs.uk