When Referencing Dr. Google Can Be Harmful

Krystle Maynard, BSN, MSN, DNP

With the ability to search for anything on the internet, how many times per day do people seek information about a disease process, medication, lab results, etc? Countless! With one search and a click, one may have content in the form of news, forums, blogs, articles, etc. Of those, which are opinion-based versus evidence-based? What happens when the information they find is not accurate and becomes potentially harmful to themselves or others? Let’s dive into some examples.

Covid-19 Pandemic and the Media

The Covid-19 pandemic demonstrated a huge concern regarding health misinformation being produced on social media. At a time when the world was operating at high-stress levels and in unfamiliar territory, the information being spread only added to the problem. More than ever, social media is often a primary source of information to many, allowing it to be equally a positive and negative feat regarding healthcare. In fact, there was so much misinformation being spread, that researchers of multiple studies concluded that 0.2% to 28.8% of posts resulted in misinformation and all of them reported that the pandemic was meant to lead to fear or panic.

Granted, in a world where so much was unknown, fear and panic were potential responses, but in the case of misinformation, many went as far as saying that the pandemic was not real and that it was a political tactic to cause that fear and panic. Who knew there were so many disease experts right in the comment section of facebook? As healthcare providers, it became quite obvious just how real covid-19 was and how catastrophic it became when people by the masses opted to believe the misinformation and therefore contributed to many of the issues during the pandemic. At a time when healthcare should have been focusing on research and developing a treatment and/or cure, we found ourselves trying to educate anyone who was willing to listen in an attempt to help the greater good.

Referencing Dr. Google

Nurses are great educators and often take any opportunity possible to ensure patients are receiving accurate information as it relates to their health and wellbeing. Very often, patients and/or family members will reference what they saw or read something on Google either during inpatient hospitalizations or in clinic settings. As patient advocates, we want our patients to take care of themselves and love it when they take initiative to learn about their health issues and medications. However, we often have to consider their sources and provide them with the correct information, as well as evidence-based educational content and/or sources for future use.

Is TikTok Harmful?

I won’t go as far as to say that common sense left with the explosive onset of social media trends, but it doesn’t hurt to combat the potentially harmful trends floating around in cyberspace. I’m sure most have heard about the tide pod trend. Or perhaps the ingestion of cleaning products as a way to rid their body of diseases, such as Covid? As healthcare professionals, we are baffled at how someone thought either was a good idea, but we have to educate better. Not only do we need to explain that these are harmful, but also WHY it is harmful. It might be time to get creative and join the tik tok community as a way to disseminate accurate health information. What are you waiting for?

Social Media

Social media can be a wonderful avenue for spreading information and education with a wide audience and at a rapid pace. However, when the information being transferred is opinionated, advice-driven, and extremely inaccurate, the results could be harmful. Healthcare providers are tasked with providing education that is factual to their patient population and does so as often as possible. In fact, patient advocacy is what we do but when providers have to compete with the masses on social media, news outlets, and word of mouth, it can become quite difficult to meet as many people who will listen.

As a result, more healthcare companies and providers are utilizing social media for its wide-reach and positive aspects as a way to provide the public with accurate educational content. This could be a good option as a middle-ground, given how difficult it can be to seek out accurate data online. Think about how hard it can be to find the perfect academic research journal article you need for your topic-chances are, that these are not the resources the public is seeking out. Not to mention, they are probably difficult for many to understand. People want information that is fast and easy and may find themselves frequenting sites such as WebMD, which is not a trusted or reliable source.

What now?

What can nurses and other healthcare providers do to help combat the trend of misinformation? We can provide reputable sites to the public that are trusted and reliable, should they want to search for information. The option is always there to provide them with research studies, but instead of expecting them to read and understand it, perhaps provide a bullet list of highlights from the article. While scrolling through social media, engage in conversations that you see are inaccurate and share your expert knowledge or provide access to reliable sources.

Closing Thoughts

Having access to limitless information at your fingertips can be challenging. Despite the need for reliable and reputable sources, they may be harder for the general public to locate when they are seeking quick and easy information. This challenge will need to be accepted by those in healthcare to demonstrate a more creative approach to introducing accurate health information and/or sources to the public when they are able.

What are ways that you provide accurate information to your patients and/or the public? Do you utilize social media to promote information sharing that is accurate?

References

1. COVID-19-related misinformation on social media: a systematic review

2. Online Health Information: Is It Reliable?