Access to Health Care Information

The wide-reaching span of today’s global society is increasingly being seen in the breadth of heath care information on the Internet. Today’s patients are more informed than ever and can easily find information on anything from diseases to treatments. Reflect on how this ease of information impacts health care both globally and locally, and then address the following: 

1.  Share an example of a time when a client or patient asked questions about your nursing care or the medical plan of care based on that person’s use of non-valid Internet health information Web sites. 

2.  Explain how you managed the situation and your thoughts on how nurses might address patient or client use of such information sites.

3. Share your thoughts on the existence and impact of the digital divide in relation to your nursing-practice experiences. Provide one example to illustrate your thoughts. 

Support your ideas or those of others with references from the professional nursing literature. 

Required References

·         Course Text: Hebda, T., & Czar, P. (2013). Handbook of informatics for nurses and healthcare professionals (5th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall.

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o    Chapter 3, “Ensuring the Quality and Best Use of Information”

Chapter 3 discusses the process of collecting, storing, and retrieving data. It also provides strategies and techniques for data verification and data management, as well as the attributes of quality information.

o    Chapter 4, “Ensuring the “The Internet and the World Wide Web: An Overview”

Chapter 4 discusses basic concepts and applications of the Internet and World Wide Web inclusive of basic search strategies and criteria for evaluating the quality of online information.