Analysis of Online Patient Information Resources for Complementary and Alternative Medicine

Background:Emerging technology gives patients access to many online resources about complementary and alternative medicine (CAM).  Healthcare professionals often debate which online patient resource provides correct information and can be easily accessible.

Purpose: To analyze and compare online patient information resources to a healthcare professional information resource regarding CAM in order to establish a reliable patient information resource to recommend to patients.

Methods: Six online patient information resources (NCCAM, NIH:ODS, MedlinePlus, Pharmacy Times, Wikipedia, and WebMD) were compared to one resource (Micromedex).  Data were collected from each electronic database on the following CAM therapies:  fish oil, garlic, ginseng, soy, resveratrol, acupuncture, and tai chi.  The evaluation of each resource was based on the correctness, clarity of content,  ease of use, and the Flesch-Kincaid reading level.

Results: The NCCAM resource contained all of the CAM and ranked the highest in the correctness of the information (8), clarity of content (9), ease of use (8) and had the lowest Flesch-Kincaid reading level (10.6).  The Wikipedia resource did not contain all of CAM and obtained the lowest grade correctness of information (6), clarity of content (5), ease of use (4), and had the highest Flesch-Kincaid reading level (15.3).

Conclusions: NCCAM is the most accurate and easily navigated source for patient online CAM information. It should be recommended by healthcare professionals to patients.