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PBL Learning Issues

Evaluating a healtlh information web site

CONSIDER NOTES

Who is the responsible party?

Authorship or Attribution - Who is providing the information?

What are their qualifications?

Who is paying for it? Is there advertising?
What is the purpose of the site?

Share information?

Promote a certain belief or point of view?

Sell products or services?

Who is intended audience?

Health professionals? Students? Patients? Health Consumers? General Public?

Consumer Health sites (MedlinePlus, WebMD, Mayo Clinic) probably do not provide the depth of knowledge you need as a scholar and practitioner

Sources/References

Where does the information come from?

What is the evidence behind the information?

Quality web sites provide reference sources and citations

Timeliness

An article from 2003 about treatment for hypertension is not helpful and may be harmful

Information Quality

Is the information accurate and valid?

Does the information reflect explicit or implicit bias? Does it represent a specific point of view?

 

Appraising Clinical Studies

Once you find evidence that may address your case you will need to determine the quality and applicability of the evidence.

  1. Does this study address a clearly focused question?
  2. Did the study use valid methods to explore this question?
  3. Are the results valid and are they significant or important?
  4. Are the results applicable to this patient or population?

Consider:

  • Setting - Study similarities to your setting
  • Population - How similar your patient is to those studied
  • Providers  - Whether studied outcomes are realistic in your clinical setting
  • Study Design - What is quality of the overall methodology
  • Study Synthesis - Whether potential benefit outweighs potential risk
  • How the intervention relates to the patient's values and experiences
  • The available alternatives
  • What the outcome will be if no intervention is applied

Validity:

  • Were there enough subjects in the study to establish that the findings did not occur by chance? 
  • Were subjects randomly allocated? Were the groups comparable? If not, could this have introduced bias? 
  • Are the measurements/ tools validated by other studies? 
  • Was the study "blinded"?
  • Could there be confounding factors?
  • Is the study reproducible?
  • What were the outcome measures? 

Quality Evidence

Hallmarks of quality evidence

  • Addresses the specific clinical issue or question
  • Is from a trusted source
  • Is backed by quality data & research
  • Is supported by valid conclusions
  • Is free from bias
  • Is timely

  • Can be verified in more than one source