Question

Please answer in detail and in at least two paragraphs, thank you.

Q: Please discuss the measures that can be taken to help assure the quality of medical information one receives over the World Wide Web.

Answer 1

There are a lot of information that is available on the World Wide Web. One of the popular set of information that people search regularly on the web is medical information. These information can range from treatment, cure, symptoms, healthcare quality, patient experience, to simple general knowledge. However, we need to understand that the information that we receive on the internet can often be provided by a specialist or a general person. In case, the source of the information is a general person, there may be mistakes and correct reasoning in the information. This is why the medical information that we receive on the World Wide Web should have certain quality metrics associated with it.

The quality metrics that can be commonly associated with medical information the web can be categorized as intrinsic metrics (accuracy, reputation, believability, etc.) and the contextual metrics (relevance with question, timeliness, completeness, etc.). In addition to these, the information that we receive should also have feedback from other users from the community. This can add validity to the information that we receive on the web. Combining these metrics, the quality of medical information can be scored and higher or lower quality of information can be distinguished.