Open Access Week Challenge 2023

Welcome to Day 4 of the Open Access Week Challenge!

Today's activity will focus on Consumer Health Information.

In this part of the Open Access Week Challenge, you should expect to learn the following:

• How to identify consumer health information.
• How to effectively evaluate consumer health information you may encounter online.
• How to locate free, reliable, evidence-based online consumer health information for yourself and your communities.

The consumer health information provided in the resources highlighted in this guide should not be used as a substitute for professional medical care or advice. Contact a health care provider if you have questions about your health.

• A health consumer is anyone who receives healthcare.
• Consumer health information is created for the consumer, instead of for healthcare providers.
• Consumer health Information should be easy to read and not require advanced knowledge of medical topics.

Health information is easy to find online, but finding reliable health information takes a little effort. When you are evaluating health information you may encounter online, it’s important to consider how to make sure the information is credible and what elements you should look for on a website to know if it is trustworthy.

Asking a few questions will help you decide if you can trust a website. You can usually find the answer to most of these questions on the site's "About Us" page. If you cannot find information about who runs the website, the site may not be trustworthy, and the health information it provides may be unreliable.

You should ask yourself:

• Who created the information? Can you trust them to provide balanced, accurate information?
  • Trustworthy sites provide a way to contact the owners with questions or feedback.
• What is the purpose of the website?
  • Avoid websites that are attempting to sell products or services, or that represent the opinions of certain individuals or groups.
• Who funds the website?
  • Avoid websites funded by advertisements or by businesses that may promote their own products.
• Is the information provided by the website based on medical or scientific research?
  • Reliable health information should not promote one treatment over another and should provide balanced facts based on verifiable research (preferably cited within the website).

For more guidelines for how to evaluate online health information, visit the National Library of Medicine's Evaluating Health Information web page.

In general, free and reliable health information can be found on websites run by government agencies (e.g., National Institutes of Health), medical schools (e.g., Indiana University School of Medicine), non-profit organizations (e.g., American Heart Association), and professional associations (e.g., American Medical Association).

Here are some suggested resources to get you started:

• MedlinePlus
  • Consumer health information from the National Library of Medicine, the National Institutes of Health, and other health organizations related to health conditions, drugs and supplements, genetics, and medical testing. Available in English and Spanish.
• National Institutes of Health NIDDK Health Information
  • Health information about treatment for common diseases informed by research conducted by the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases. Available in English and Spanish.
• Nemours KidsHealth
  • Physician-reviewed advice on children's physical, emotional, and behavioral health topics, from before birth through the teen years. Separate sections are provided for parents, kids, teens, and educators. Available in English and Spanish.
• World Health Organization Fact Sheets
  •  Evidence-based information on diseases and health conditions. Available in Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian, and Spanish.

For more suggested websites that provide free, reliable consumer health information, please visit the Ruth Lilly Medical Library's Freely-Available Health Information research guide.

For this challenge:

1. Complete the National Library of Medicine's Evaluating Internet Health Information tutorial to learn more about how to effectively evaluate health information you find online.
2. Use MedlinePlus or another trusted website suggested above to locate reliable information about a specific health topic (e.g, high blood pressure), medication (e.g., Lisinopril), or medical test (e.g., measuring blood pressure) you are interested in learning more about.