The Internet and patient education--resources and their reliability: focus on a select urologic topic

Abstract

Objectives: The information revolution triggered by the rapid growth of the Internet has allowed healthcare providers and patients to access a rapidly expanding volume of information. To address the quality of this information, a survey of the data on a single urology-related topic available on the Internet was performed.

Methods: The search on the World Wide Web (Web) was performed using the search engine HotBot and search directory Yahoo. The Web pages were assessed according to their relevancy to the topic chosen. Relevance rates were derived from the number of relevant sites divided by the total number of sites found. Relevant sites were subsequently ranked for quality on the basis of their accuracy, comprehensiveness, and objectivity. HotBot was then subsequently divided by domain, with each assessed separately. Yahoo was analyzed in its entirety. The resources were then compared for relevance and quality of information.

Results: When using the keyword "Viagra," HotBot responded with 15,109 hits. Yahoo presented 51 hits under the category, "Health: Pharmacy: Drugs and Medications: Specific Drugs and Medications: Viagra (Sildenafil)." The relevance rate for the first 50 hits in the search engine HotBot was 0.08. The relevance rates for the edu and org domains found by HotBot were 0.22 and 0.24, respectively; those for com and net were both 0.10. The relevance rate for the search directory Yahoo was 0.20. For relevant sites, the quality of the information presented was significantly higher in the Yahoo and in the HotBot domains hosted by nonprofit organizations when compared with HotBot in general and with its commercially oriented domains. HotBot overall was found to contain seven excellent sites, of which only three were found within Yahoo.

Conclusions: Although the medical information available on the Web has proliferated at a remarkable rate, the number of Web sites providing complete, nonbiased information continues to represent only a small portion of the total. We have shown that the search directory Yahoo reduced the number of irrelevant sites significantly, but at the same time, some very valuable information available in HotBot was missing. At present, it may be useful to conduct searches within Yahoo followed by a review of both the edu and org HotBot domains.