Mr. Cruiser has been surfing the Web. He is looking for healthcare inf

QUESTION

Mr. Cruiser has been surfing the Web. He is looking for healthcare information on low back pain. He shows the clinic nurse a Webpage he thinks is great and tells her that he has been following the exercises recommended by the author.

He wants to know what she thinks about the site. When the clinic nurse evaluates this site, she discovers that its author is a personal trainer. No credentials are listed. In several testimonials on the page, people (their pictures are included) say how wonderful they feel after having done these exercises. The exercises all have animated demos when you click on the pertinent highlighted text or icon. They seem easy to follow. The site was posted five years earlier and was last updated three years before. The clinic nurse advises Mr. Cruiser to:

a. Avoid this site.
b. Check with his primary healthcare provider.
c. Continue with the exercises.
d. Contact the author for additional exercise and feedback.

ANSWER:

ANS: A
Patients need coaching as to how to use and decipher information that is available through the Internet. In this situation, the provider on the site lacks credibility because no credentials are listed, and the information is not current.