Writing ◎ With the Internet, modern people can obtain medical and health knowledge from many channels, such as LINE, FB, Health News, various medical bloggers, health websites and so on. But under the bombardment of so much information, has our life become healthier? Besides, after absorbing these health knowledge, do you feel more determined and relaxed?
? Facing the attitude of health information, some people believe everything, live conscientiously every day, and eat and drink Lazar according to the principle of experts; Some people only believe what they want to believe and ignore what they can't believe; Of course, there are people who don't care at all, as if they are health news insulators, who don't read or believe, and do their best.
? However, there is so much health information around us, how should we filter it? The following are five steps suggested by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the so-called 5W (people, things, time, place and things) principle, as a basic screening tool:
? 1. Who (human): As long as there is no suitable author, you can basically read any article. If the author has a first name and a last name, he can further search with Google to see if his past articles are credible. This is definitely the first step to identify the authenticity of network information.
? 2. What (thing): Is the content of this medical report too vain and exaggerated? Any article that is too magical or too scary should be in doubt in theory. When the topic is full of sensational words such as "stunned", "cancer phobia", "immediate effect" and "secret can't be passed on", the content is usually not too close to the truth. You can regard it as an anecdote of a strange man, but you will lose when you get serious. On the other hand, if an article can provide vivid evidence and list empirical research data, its credibility will be greatly improved, but it is difficult for ordinary people to understand.
? 3. When: When is the date of publication of this article, and is the concept out of date? With the rapid development of medicine, many old concepts of parenting or health preservation are no longer suitable for taking out. In the 1950 s, the speed of medical progress only doubled after about 50 years. Now, the speed of medical progress doubles every 73 days! At this rate, it is still too slow to renovate parenting books every four years.
? 4. Where: Where was this article published? The place of publication also represents the credibility of the article. The health map circulated casually by online groups can't be traced back to the above four principles of "people, things, time and place", and should not be spread at all, let alone believed. When reading online articles, you can also check the "Organization Profile/About Us" field in the webpage. If it belongs to an academic network, it is usually more credible.
? 5. Why: Why did this article appear on the Internet? Many health news, seemingly promoting the concept of health, are actually encouraging people to buy a healthy food, or promoting self-funded examinations, operations and so on. There is nothing wrong with healthy food or various medical services. It just encourages people to ask more "why", which may help them check their health and make more correct decisions.
? The last why principle is also suitable for authors (doctors, nutritionists, medical journalists and other professionals) to think objectively. What is the purpose of making these health information public? Is the correct health concept to be promoted serious enough to attract click-through rate with threatening marketing words?
? This episode of "Love+Good Doctor" takes the news of rising drug resistance of mycoplasma as an example to discuss. When this news came out, many parents were worried. However, even if ordinary people know this fact, what kind of health plan can they make? There seems to be nothing to do. How to balance the reporting of similar health news and correctly interpret the information?
? In addition to the 5W method, you can also use the following methods to dispel doubts about the information that is difficult to distinguish between true and false on the Internet:
? 1. Google Keywords: "The disease theme you saw" and "rumors" may have been dispelled by other experts.
? 2. Google keywords: "the theme of the disease you see" and "the name of the doctor you trust". Have any doctors you trust written relevant articles?
? 3. Ask Aunt Mei Yu to join the LINE group to help identify whether the forwarded content is a rumor, and Aunt Mei Yu will also give feedback and answer the correct knowledge.
Answering questions from Aijia Advisory Group Lv Junyi | Attending physician Wen Yunjing | Senior media person
Q: Recently, the news mentioned the drug resistance of mycoplasma. It has increased. What happened?
A: Actually, this news is a doctor's post about Facebook. Of course, the media believes in this profession, capturing important information and telling the public what to pay attention to.
Experts say that the increase in drug resistance is among patients with serious illness. Because early treatment is ineffective, drug resistance increases. Therefore, this sample is a specific object. Without community screening, I don't know whether patients or carriers of different degrees have such a high drug resistance rate. However, the increase in drug resistance is a fact. About 20% to 30% of patients in the same hospital are drug-resistant. Some Japanese patients reported up to 90% drug resistance, while others in China reported 100% drug resistance. Therefore, under such frequent exchanges, it has long been predicted that drug resistance will increase, especially if antibiotics are used more, drug-resistant bacteria will have survival advantages. The proportion of drug resistance in Taiwan Province Province is smaller than that in neighboring countries. Only in the past two years, the drug resistance has increased from 2-30% to 60-70%. This is indeed a warning, reminding us to be more cautious or precise when using antibiotics.
Q: What is mycoplasma? How do I know if I'm infected?
A: Mycoplasma. In fact, it is a kind of bacteria that can be seen everywhere in life. It is easy to cause respiratory infections, such as colds, coughs, fever, pneumonia, etc., and it can also cause serious infections, such as encephalitis or other systemic immune reactions.
It is difficult to distinguish, because mycoplasma infection has no special symptoms, which is similar to the symptoms of respiratory infection caused by other bacteria or viruses, and there is still uncertainty even after testing. It may be that the patient has been infected with mycoplasma for a month, but the cough symptoms of the patient are not necessarily caused by mycoplasma, so it is difficult for even doctors to diagnose whether there is mycoplasma infection immediately.
? Q: Why do news media like some sensational headlines?
A: In fact, the Chief Executive has a great influence on the content of media news interviews. It is usually hoped that there will be topics in the news that can be discussed by the public, rather than just conveying the epidemic situation of mycoplasma. We will definitely focus on several key points. To form a news, we must let everyone know a key point or knowledge, which is in line with the facts and attractive.
? Q: If a lot of health information becomes professional, will it cause people's concept deviation on health education? Do media people have the function of guiding correct thoughts?
A: Some pharmaceutical companies will ask reporters to promote their drugs, and even find cases or studies to prove it. However, most journalists will pay attention to newly developed innovative technologies, which will also let people know that there are other ways to treat diseases and encourage them to keep hope. If it is obviously an industry press release, they will also find experts to balance the information.