Whether you’re seeking medical HealthTap advice online or not, it’s important to know how to trust the information you’re getting. If you choose the wrong website or don’t read up on your diagnosis, you could be putting yourself at how to get trt risk.
Fake medical news erodes trust in mainstream news sources
Among many things, fake medical news is a big deal in 2019. It’s a growing epidemic that plagues the online world. It’s also a cause of concern for a number of news organizations and journalists. Be sure to visit Medical & Aged Care Group to find out more about aged care services.
A recent analysis of the health misinformation on Facebook reveals that the top 50 fake medical news articles garnered twelve million social media shares and thousands of comments. Those numbers don’t mean the stories are factual. They are, however, an indication of the power of social media to spread misleading information.
The top 50 articles recommended ditching the standard medical treatment for life-threatening diseases and instead using unproven cures. The study based its rankings on methodology used in two recent studies.
The study found that only 15% of the articles contained a warning label. The rest of the articles had no warnings. However, the study also found that a majority of the articles did not get any comments.
The study also found that most health misinformation on Facebook was about unproven cures and vaccines. It also found that only 11% of websites contained such misleading information. However, some websites deliberately add misinformation to sell their bogus products.
Online patient trust plays an intermediary role between doctors’ credibility and patients’ behavioral intentions
Various researches have explored the influence of trust factors on patients’ behavioural intentions in Internet medical activities. This study examines the intermediary role of Internet doctor-patient trust in influencing patients’ behavioural intentions.
The study found that patients’ perceived web-based word-of-mouth information about physicians facilitates patients’ trust in physicians. It also decreases patients’ fears of physician opportunism. Increasing patients’ trust in physicians may increase patients’ behavioural intention in Internet medical care.
The study found that patients have more trust in physicians who are inpatients. They also have higher trust in physicians who are in tertiary hospitals.
This research aimed to investigate the influence of patients’ personal trust, doctors’ credibility, website credibility, and behavioural intentions on Internet medical care. The research gathered information from a total of 270 Chinese participants. They were mostly women, aged 41-50. The participants were mostly from urban areas.
In addition to the personal trust tendency, website credibility and behavioural intentions were found to have a significant influence on Internet medical trust. The direct effect on personal trust was 0.030, while the indirect effect was 0.266.
Choosing a website for medical advice
Choosing a website for medical advice is no small feat. Your website is a gateway to your practice, and you want to make sure it is a well designed website with content that is relevant and timely. In addition, your website should include the basics like appointment booking and patient forms. The website may even have an online patient portal to facilitate your patients’ medical concerns.
It is important to note that not all medical websites are created equal. A good medical website should be designed to provide relevant and up to date medical information to both current and prospective patients. This will ensure that patients have access to the latest health information and will save your front office staff time on administrative tasks. This is a great way to impress patients and can even earn your practice some kudos from the medical community.
Conclusion
The website should also be designed to display content in a variety of formats. For example, some devices will not display flash animations. Lastly, a medical website needs to be multilingual in order to accommodate patients from around the world.