growing up online by Carolyn Jabs

The Doctor is On(line) Find Quality Health Information on the Web

Parents who have searched for health information online know it can be every bit as frustrating as it is enlightening. Many websites have an agenda that isn’t obvious until you figure out who is paying to put all that information at your fingertips.
 
Even more worrisome, researchers have found that information on many health websites is outdated, incomplete or simply inaccurate. 
 
Even though the medical Internet seems like a free-for-all, a growing number of reputable sites can help you manage healthcare for your family more efficiently and effectively. Here are some ideas.
 
 
Master the Basics 
Time with your pediatrician is short and precious, so don’t waste it on things you could have learned online. Use a reliable, non-profit website like Kidshealth.org to get up to speed on basic childhood health issues like cold medicines, diaper rash or chicken pox vaccine.  
 
Webmd.com is also an established and respected health portal with a special section on children’s health.
 
Avoid using multi-purpose search engines like Google for basic health info because they will cough up too many commercial sites biased in favor of what they hope to sell. For a search engine that will yield only doctor-approved websites, try healthline.com.
 
 
Check Out Drugs
Don’t buy medicine for your family online. The risk of getting counterfeit drugs is simply too great.
 
Instead, use Drugs.com to research benefits and side effects of both prescription and over-the-counter drugs. Not only is the site easy to understand, it explains where the information came from and when it was updated. 
 
If you can’t afford drugs that have been recommended for a family member, go to Rxassist.org, a non-profit website that has up-to-date information about assistance programs, many run by the companies that manufacturing the drugs.
 
 
Find Healthcare Providers
Word-of-mouth from other parents is probably still the best way to find a pediatrician, but a website like Ucomparehealthcare.com can be invaluable when you need to check out specialists, hospitals and other health facilities. Among other things, this free service allows you to see where physicians were educated, where they have hospital privileges and whether they have faced disciplinary action.  
 
 
Comparison Shop
Healthcare is the only area in which consumers don’t know the price of things before they buy and where costs vary dramatically from place to place. Slowly, the Internet is making the cost of health services more transparent.
 
If you have health insurance, your company’s website may have lists of what they regard as reasonable and customary costs for everything from office visits to surgery. A few hospitals, such as the Dartmouth Medical Center, have begun putting detailed cost information on their websites. Healthgrades.com charges for their reports (click on “Health Manager” for a full list of topics) but they are specific to your region. 
 
 
Keep Records
Every time you go to a new doctor, you have to fill out a hundred little boxes asking for everything from dates of immunization to family health history.
 
Keeping all this information in one master file minimizes tedium and increases accuracy. If the file is stored online you can have instant access even if you aren’t at home. A number of websites now offer this service, though many charge a fee.
 
IHealthRecord.com, a service designed by physicians, is free to patients and so is the medical records section of RevolutionHealth.com. In both cases, the information is password protected.    
 
 
Locate Support
An online community with active message boards is often the best place to find encouragement when you are facing family medical problems, especially if they are low incidence.  
 
Parents of children with disabilities or chronic illnesses can benefit enormously from sharing their experiences with other parents who “get” what they are talking about.  Teenagers and even children facing health challenges such as cancer or diabetes may also find such communities helpful. 
 
Often, organizations or agencies devoted to specific illnesses have lists of such groups, but they can also be found on social networking sites. Both parents and teens should remember that any medical advice provided by people in online groups is simply one person’s opinion.    
 
 
Talk To Your Doctor
In fact, any health information or services found online should be treated as a second, third or fourth opinion. The opinion that matters most will always be the one from a trusted physician who can listen to your child’s heart and tell her to say “ahhhhhh.”
 
Still, most pediatricians now understand that well-chosen websites can help parents find, understand and manage healthcare information. 
 
In fact, it’s worth asking whether your pediatrician has websites he or she recommends. If you get good suggestions, please send them along to be posted at www.growing-up-online. Or, if you get a blank look, you may want to share this column!  
 
 
Carolyn Jabs can be reached at crjabs@bex.net.  She recently earned her MA in online ethics and is mother to three computer-savvy kids. Other Growing Up Online columns are available at www.growing-up-online.com.  

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