Should You Search the Internet for Information About Your Acute Symptom?
Should You Search the Internet for Information About Your Acute Symptom?
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DOI：
10.1089/tmj.2011.0127
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发表时间：
2012-04-01
影响因子：
4.7
通讯作者：
Tulledge-Scheitel, Sidna M.
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
North, Frederick;Ward, William J.;Tulledge-Scheitel, Sidna M.
目的：为了确定是否有足够的信息，为用户寻求紧急护理时，必要的紧急相关网站。材料和方法：我们回顾了120个网站（8种急性症状各15个网站）。症状相关的网站被确定与谷歌，雅虎！(R)和Bing（TM）搜索并集中于潜在的危险症状，如胸痛、呼吸急促、腹痛和晕厥。我们审查了每个与紧急护理相关的网站，以确定是否存在将用户分流到紧急护理的关键症状指标（关键症状特征和相关因素）。结果：在120个网站审查，41（33%）不包含关键症状指标。没有一个网站包含一套完整的关键症状指标。总体而言，在网站搜索的1，020个关键症状中，我们只找到了329个（32%）。当存在时，只有34%的人在网站首页的上半部分发现了严重症状指标。42%的病例中，确定了严重症状指标，但没有提出进一步护理的具体建议。结论：在主要搜索引擎中排名靠前的症状相关网站缺乏大量所需的信息，无法判断症状是否需要紧急关注。即使有这种信息，也通常不放在用户可以迅速获取的地方，而且往往缺乏用户寻找核心的规范性指导。在更多的网站至少包含最低限度的分类建议之前，依靠互联网搜索来帮助确定症状的紧迫性可能是有风险的。
Objective: To determine if symptom-related Web sites give sufficient information for users to seek urgent care when warranted. Materials and Methods: We reviewed 120 Web sites (15 sites for each of eight acute symptoms). Symptom-related sites were identified with Google, Yahoo!(R), and Bing (TM) searches and focused on potentially hazardous symptoms such as chest pain, shortness of breath, abdominal pain, and syncope. We reviewed each symptom-related site for the presence of critical symptom indicators (key symptom characteristics and associated factors) that triage the user to urgent care. Results: Of the 120 sites reviewed, 41 (33%) contained no critical symptom indicators. No site contained a complete set of critical symptom indicators. Overall, out of the 1,020 total critical symptoms searched for in the sites, we only found 329 (32%). When present, critical symptom indicators were found on the top half of the first page of the site in only 34%. Specific recommendations for further care were absent in 42% of the cases where critical symptom indicators were identified. Conclusions: Symptom-related sites ranked highly by major search engines lack much of the information needed to make a decision about whether a symptom needs urgent attention. When present, this information is usually not located where users can rapidly access it and often lacks prescriptive guidance for users to seek core. Until more sites contain at least minimal triage advice, relying on an Internet search to help determine the urgency of a symptom could be risky.