What
risks do individuals take when looking for information about health related
topics on the Internet?
Accuracy and reliability! How much personal information must one divulge?
Pew internet project - Vital Decisions May 22, 2002
Go to Daily Internet Activities – compared to other activities, the frequency of searching for medical information is surprisingly low!
Highlights of statistical reports:
66% have at least once looked for health/medical information online (see the Dec 29, 2002, go to this report here)
Key points of May 22 report (especially pages 5-7)
- 6 million consumers per day (more go online than visit a health professional in person)
most go online without a definite research plan, turn away from sites selling something or don’t clearly identify the source of information.
-about 1/3 of health seekers who find relevant information online bring it to their doctor for a final quality check
-about 1/4 of health seekers follow recommended Internet searching protocol for health information by checking the source and timliness of information. Another quarter say they check this info “most of the time.”
-more women than men seek medical information while on the Internet (71% to 50+%)
-Weight control products and prescription drug information are high on the list of health interests
Go to another Pew Report, Counting
on the Internet, Dec 29, 2002. Scroll to part
4 which is titled The Internet is the first choice for many health information
seekers.
The Medical Library Association provides guidelines on checking the validity of health information on the Internet beginning on page 32, the appendix of Vital Decisions.
Privacy notice on CDC site:
http://www.cdc.gov/nceh/privacy/privacy.htm
In Privacy and Confidentiality of Health Information, Jill Dennis cites that 79% of the American public worried about their privacy (1993 Harris Poll, commissioned Equifax) 49% of participants said they were very worried; 39% were somewhat worried.
Consumers have a reasonable expectation for privacy. To check on the information
held in your record at the Medical Information Bureau (MIB):
Medical Information Bureau
P.O. Box 105, Essex Station
Boston, Mass. 02112
617-426-3660
What makes up a medical record (13)
What’s
covered and what’s not
(See Section V on Web sites not covered. Page 16 of printed report is the 21st
page of the pdf.)
Audiences/ online health information/ HIPAA
Georgetown University's health privacy dot org site
College Students and Student Health Services
Link from S. Scott Brown’s master's in public health paper on Trends and potential of college health info systems (1995)
http://shs.sdsu.edu/ then go to Health and Wellness for “great links”
http://healthydevil.studentaffairs.duke.edu/info/healthinfo.html
http://www.acha.org/info_resources/hipaa_links.cfm American College Health Association
http://www.acenet.edu/washington/policyanalysis/HIPAA.2.pdf
(see page 2, and top of page 3)
anyone/everyone
http://www.hhs.gov/ocr/hipaa/whatsnew.html
UNC Healthcare
http://www.unchealthcare.org/classesevents/privacy_policy.htm