Abstract
Background data: Previous studies have questioned the quality of information available on the internet. Internet research has proven to more prevalent among scoliosis patients as compared to other orthopaedic conditions.
Aim: Scoliosis websites identified by commonly used search engines were assessed for quality and medical accuracy.
Methods: The word scoliosis was entered into top six search engines and Websites ranked according to frequency. Five websites from the worldwide web and five from the UK only search were evaluated by medical professionals – 4 spinal consultants, 2 registrars, 3 nurses and 1 physiotherapist. 10 patients/carers who had scoliosis surgery also assessed these sites. A scale of 1 to 5 was used for ease of understanding, reliability, clinical correlation, adequacy and links and average score calculated.
Results: None of the top five UK websites figured in the top 5 WWW searchs. Scoliosis research society (SRS) and American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS) website scored the highest by clinicians and patients in the www list. From the UK list, SAUK website scored the highest with both groups followed by Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH) website. We compared the assessment of websites by a healthcare professionals and by patients who had undergone treatment and showed no statistical difference in the scoring.
Conclusion: As treating clinicians it is necessary to educate patients by guiding them to reliable internet sites like SAUK and SRS.
Correspondence should be addressed to: Dr Caroline Goldberg, The Research Centre, Our Lady’s Children’s Hospital Crumlin, Dublin 12, Ireland.
