With the rapid increase of health and medical resources available on the Internet, there has been growing concern about the ability of consumers to find reputable, accurate health information.
Since the Internet is largely unregulated, it contains a great deal of information that is inaccurate or even dangerous. In addition, consumers can spend hours searching through irrelevant documents trying to find the knowledge they need.
Internet users need access to objective and knowledgeable criteria to evaluate the quality of the health information they find.
To address these concerns, the Office of Clinical Informatics joined with the Medical College of Wisconsin Libraries to create ClinicLink, a project that created an easy-to-use, consumer-oriented online library giving users access to up-to-date, accurate health and medical information.
The project also provided computer stations and staff training at two Medical College-affiliated health care clinics.
ClinicLink project members explored a wide range of web resources and selected a group of web sites that offer relevant, authoritative consumer health information. The sites were organized into a clear, user-friendly format and presented to the staff of the health care clinics for exploration and approval.
Project members then created an easy-to-access web page that identified and described the approved web sites. They then visited the health clinics to train staff and clients in the use of the new web page, called ClinicLink.
Go to ClinicLink Website