Access to health information allows people to take a more active role in their health care by making them more informed about their health and the management of their illnesses. The internet is an increasingly popular way for people to obtain this kind of health information, but there are many barriers that prevent people making full use of such information. In particular, people may lack the motivation or the skills to use the internet. In a recent systematic review published in the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, Josip Car and colleagues examined whether teaching people to find, evaluate or use online health information (online health literacy) improves those skills and improves their health. They found only two studies met the inclusion criteria for the review. They concluded that there is limited evidence on which to draw conclusions about the effect of these interventions and that further high-quality research on this topic was necessary.
As part of a session on primary care data in the Health Informatics module on the Imperial Master of Public Health Programme, I asked students to work in two groups to present arguments for and against the NHS Care.Data programme. Care.Data is an NHS programme that will extract data from the medical records held by general practitioners (GPs) in England. The Care.Data programme takes advantage of the very high level of use of electronic medical records by GPs in England. After extraction, data will be uploaded to the NHS Health and Social Care Information Centre (HSCIC). The data will then be used for functions such as health care planning, monitoring disease patterns and research. The programme has been controversial with proponents arguing that the programme will bring many benefits for the NHS and the population of England; and opponents arguing it is a major breach of privacy. You can view the two presentations to help inform you further about these arguments: Arguments fo...
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