Being able to use credible sources in one’s research and practical work is necessary to ensure progress in any field or scientific area. To determine the credibility of any source, it is necessary to ask oneself if the information extracted from that source is likely to be objective, fair, and without any hidden motives (University of California, n.d.). Developing critical thinking skills is essential to be able to evaluate information in that manner. The ability to do it defines a professional and qualified knowledge worker.
Knowledge workers are individuals whose profession is closely connected to receiving, storing, and retrieving particular information when required. Examples of knowledge workers include health professionals, programmers, teachers, scientists, etc. One of the sources that knowledge workers, and health care professionals in particular, can use to enhance their knowledge on various issues related to medicine and patient care is Health On the Net (HON) Foundation’s website. HON is “a non-profit, non-governmental organization, accredited in 2002 by the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations” (IMIA, 2015, par. 2).
Tools and resources created by HON include a range of applications and sites that provide help and feedback to medical students, health care workers, and other individuals interested in different aspects of modern medicine. For example, Curator is a HON platform where users share and exchange information on health applications and websites (Ben-Mussa & Paget, 2016). 3D Anatomy Quiz, in turn, is a helpful and engaging way to learn human anatomy. Apart from these tools, there is a number of other sources, such as HONcode Toolbar, Provisu, and HONselect.
To function and provide help according to its values, HON has developed a Code of Conduct, also referred to as HONcode. Its main goal is to address the issues of reliability and credibility of health-related information shared on the Internet (Health On the Net, 2019). HONcode has eight principles, which state that all health-related websites should:
- gather and provide information by qualified medical professionals (Authoritative);
- support the existing relationships between the patients visiting the website and their physicians (Complementarity);
- maintain high standards of information security (Privacy);
- support all information given with references to sources (Attribution);
- support all claims relating to specific treatments with clear evidence (Justifiability);
- provide information in accessible formats and clear manner (Transparency);
- include data on organizations that provide financial support for the website (Financial disclosure);
- describe its advertising policy if it is used as a funding source (Advertising policy).
Another source that allows knowledge workers of health-related professions to have easy access to medical information and documents is the Knowledge Helper for Medical and Other Information, or KHRESMOI. It is a special “search and access system for biomedical information and documents” used by scientists, industries, and medical professionals (KHRESMOI, 2010, par. 2). It is an important source because it ensures active learning for knowledge workers within all medical fields.
All this allows the conclusion that there is a large variety of tools that can help medical workers learn to analyze websites’ credibility and find reliable sources. Completing this assignment, I found many useful tools to do it. I realize how important it is to be able to evaluate the credibility of the sources I use because any kind of misleading data can result in serious problems in my research and clinical practice. Therefore, I will use all the tools mentioned above to improve my critical thinking and research skills.
References
Ben-Mussa, A., & Paget, A. M. (2016). Popular apps on the medical category targeting patients and the general public in the United Kingdom: Do they conform to the health on the net Foundation principles?Health Informatics Journal, 24(3), 259-276. Web.
Health On the Net. (2019). Health on the net, promotes transparent and reliable health information online through HONcode certification. Web.
International Medical Informatics Association. (2015). Health on the net Foundation (HON). Web.
KHRESMOI. (2010). Home Page. Khresmoi | Medical Infromation Analysis & Retrieval. Web.
University of California. (n.d.). Evaluating health information. Web.