Health Night Offers Tips For Finding

Reliable Health Information On The Web

October 15, 2002

ROME –With thousands of web sites offering health information, it’s not easy to find the right source for reliable facts.

Rome Memorial Hospital has invited the medical circuit librarian for the Central New York Library Resources Council to speak at its Health Night 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 7, to provide tips on how to find reliable sources of healthcare information on the web. The free lecture will be held in the hospital’s classroom on the first floor at 1500 N. James St.

Kathleen Hughes is a reference librarian at the SUNY Upstate Health Sciences Library in Syracuse.  She earned her master’s degree in library science at Syracuse University.  She also has a doctorate in physical anthropology, with an interest in epidemiology, demography, and population genetics.

“The internet is a useful tool to obtain information, but not all web sites are created equal,” Hughes said.  “It’s essential for web surfers to evaluate the source of the information to determine how accurate it’s likely to be.”

“The sheer number of sites offering healthcare information can be overwhelming,” Hughes said.  “For example, if you entered ‘diabetes’ into the Google search engine, there would be more than 4.5 million links on the subject.”

Hughes will offer tips on how to evaluate sources in the search for credible healthcare information.  She will also discuss targeting techniques to help decrease your search time.  Brochures will be available which list the Medical Library Association’s “Top Ten Most Useful Consumer Health Web Sites.”

Health Night is a monthly lecture series, sponsored by Rome Memorial Hospital. Advance registration is not required.  Refreshments will be served. For more information, please call 338-7143.