There is not a day that a patient doesn't come into my office with reams of paper printed off an Internet site. Some use it to self diagnose while others bring it in as substantiating proof that they need several investigations. Often physicians are leary of the quality of the information. There's warranted concern that this information is inaccurate. Patients who self diagnose without discussing their symptoms with their physician run the risk of worrisome delays. These patients go unmonitored with great potential for harm.

There's no question that the Internet has become one of the most frequent references for patients to seek information. And while an informed patient is always desirable, it's important that the information you get is accurate and useful.

What to look for
My advice, before reading the information on the site, review the site itself. Look at the 'about us' section. Who's running the site? Is it reviewed by experts in the area? How often is it up-dated (information that should be readily displayed)? Does it have information for both physicians and consumers? This is important because the language should be readily understandable and familiar.

Is the web site trying to sell anything other than information, such as products and miracle cures? Is it linking you to any other web sites and what are those web sites about?

How to search the Internet
Patients often use a general web engine to investigate a disease they're looking for. Instead, find a vetted web site that's reviewed and updated frequently by a reputable body and use it as your search engine.

Search for a reliable site with medically accurate information. Use a government or University based site to search your area of interest, and then follow their links to other reliable sources of information. Sites that end in .edu usually mean it's a University site. Sites ending in gc.ca denote it is Canadian government run, those with .gov American government run, and many with .org are non-profit.

As an example, using a popular web engine, I entered the word prostate and immediately got 33,600,000 results. Page one included product placements for shrinking a prostate, along with prostate relief and others. Many of these sites sell unregulated products. Often the information is not updated or inaccurate, this can be dangerous.

On the other hand, when I entered the Health Canada site and searched prostate, 476 entries were found with recent scientific research and links to other validated sites.

H&L

Dr. Marla Shapiro, Assoc. Prof. at the University of Toronto, Dept. of Family and Community Medicine; she's CTV's Medical Consultant on Canada AM; and a regular Globe and Mail health columnist.