Welcome

Welcome to my site, I am a registered nurse that wants to educate people about all of the benefits available today to help manage your healthcare online and the online resources available to help you.  After reading through this content you should have a better understanding of the basics skills needed to navigate healthcare online and find quality websites and apps for information.  Please read through my blog and I hope you find some useful information.

Selecting Quality Websites

It is important to select quality websites when searching for your healthcare questions, otherwise the information you find may not be reliable.  There are some good things to look for when selecting a quality website.  One of the things to first check is who is creating the site, is it a random person or is it a recognized health organization, federal organization or non-profit organization?  The website should always have information about who is providing the information so that you can ensure you are looking at quality content.  It is a good idea to find out if the material posted has been reviewed by other specialists or if it is posted without a review board, you can sometimes find this information in the about us section.  Be leery of claims that sound too good to be true, they usually are, and make sure that the information you are reading is based on research not opinion, this usually can be found by searching the author of the content. 

You want to ensure that the information presented is current, so look at dates of when the content was written or posted.  Try to find out who is funding the site, is it funded by a company selling something they are advertising, is it funded by donations, is there any chance the information is biased based on who is funding the site?  Finally you want to search out the privacy policy, if you are giving personal information is the site protecting your information?  Web site information can always be helpful but it should never replace the medical opinion of your doctor, so please seek guidance from you doctor when needed. 

Some quality websites you can visit are:
Alzheimer’s Association www.alz.org
American Cancer Association www.cancer.org
American Diabetes Association www.diabetes.org
American Heart Association www.heart.org
Center for Disease Control and Prevention www.cdc.gov
KidsHealth www.kidshealth.org
Mentalhealth.gov www.mentalhealth.gov

Reference:

Medline Plus. (2015). MedlinePlus guide to healthy web surfing. Retrieved from https://medlineplus.gov/healthywebsurfing.html

Useful Health Apps

In today's modern digital age there are so many different apps available to you to help achieve your health goals. Some benefits of using mobile health applications are: increased ability to access your health information, ability to focus more on prevention of illness and detecting disease early on, improving quality of life, faster feedback from clinicians, better diagnostics, increased affordability, promotion of healthier lifestyle and more confidence in being able to care for yourself.  When selecting your healthcare applications for use you want to ensure that your information will be kept confidential and you want to ensure that the app you are using is created by a valid or well known company or organization.

Your doctors office may provide you with some apps to use that they are also able to interface with. The doctor may be able to see the information you are loading into the app and communicate with you through the app.  This way as soon as you track the information the doctor can see what is happening and contact you if a change in care is needed.

Some quality health applications you can check out for use are:
PTSD Coach: https://mobile.va.gov/app/ptsd-coach
Cronometer Nutrition Tracking App: https://cronometer.com
Round Health Medication Tracking App: https://roundhealth.co
WebMD: https://www.webmd.com/webmdapp
Glucose Buddy Diabetes Tracking App: https://www.glucosebuddy.com
CDC Mobile App:
https://www.cdc.gov/mobile/applications/cdcgeneral/promos/cdcmobileapp.html


References:
Alexander, S., Frith, H. F. & Hoy, H. (2019).  Applied clinical informatics for nurses, 2, 208. Jones & Bartlett Learning: Burlington, MA.

Online Support Groups

Support groups are very beneficial for those going through an illness or caring for a loved one going through an illness.  Being able to talk with others going through the same or similar thing helps you cope because they have a true understanding of what you are feeling.  Some benefits to support groups are: feeling less lonely and isolated, reducing anxiety and stress, being able to talk freely about your feelings, developing better coping skills, staying motivated to keep with your treatment plan, developing a sense of empowerment and hope, and developing a better understanding of your disease process. With the advantages we have today with the digital world support groups have become more readily available to everyone.  The development of online support groups has opened many doors to those who don't live near a local support group or those too ill to leave their home for one or simply to those afraid of joining one for one reason or another.

There are many online support groups available and this is a great tool that can be used for so many patients and family members.  You will want to make sure that your privacy will be kept when joining an online support group.  The privacy information should be listed on the site where you are accessing the support group.  Be cautious as there may be impersonators on the internet in some support groups that are trying to get your personal information.  So you want to make sure that you are on a reliable site before joining any online support groups.  There are benefits to using online support groups, some benefits include: more flexibility with participation, ability to remain anonymous, and the ability for those with no local support groups in their area to participate.  There can also be drawbacks to using online support groups: due to the ability to remain anonymous some may be inappropriate or disrespectful, misinterpretation of written text, isolation from other friends and family and those that are impersonating and preying on others.  So be cautious of the risks but also aware of the benefits and just be safe with the information that you give.

Some reliable sites for online support groups are:
American cancer society support groups for patients, survivors, and family members of cancer patients: http://www.cancer.org/treatment/support-programs-and-services/online-communities.html
Alzheimers support groups for those with Alzheimers or their caregivers: https://www.alz.org/events/event_search?etid=2&cid=0
Diabetes online forums and support groups:
https://community.diabetes.org/home
National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) multiple options available for online and telephone support groups for many different mental illnesses and family members:
https://namipamainline.org/online-and-telephone-support-groups/
Online support groups for stroke survivors and caregivers:
https://supportnetwork.heart.org

Reference
Mayo Clinic. (2018). Support groups: Make connections, get help. Retrieved from https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/stress-management/in-depth/support-groups/art-20044655

Online Personal Health Record

A personal health record (PHR) is an electronic database created by your healthcare provider that includes your medical records and information about your visits to that provider.  You are able to access that information anywhere and you usually determine your own password for logging in.  Your record is private and you determine who you allow to access that record outside of your medical provider.  As with anything on the web there are always risks of data breaches, but your provider does all that they can to keep your information confidential and secure.

Having a PHR makes it very convenient to access your lab results, allergies, pathology results, radiology results, diagnoses, health insurance, medication lists and any scheduled appointments you have with that provider.  One of the downfalls is that each provider may have a different site and login for your records so if you are seeing multiple providers it may be hard to keep track of all the different websites and your passwords.  

References:
Alexander, S., Frith, H. F. & Hoy, H. (2019).  Applied clinical informatics for nurses, 2, 252-253. Jones & Bartlett Learning: Burlington, MA.

Basic Internet Information

In order to access your health information on the internet you need to be able to connect to the internet, many local places will have free wireless connections that you can connect to but sometimes these connections are not secure.  In order to set up a secure internet connection at home there are many things to consider.  First you need to research internet service providers in your area and look at what internet services they provide and the cost.  There are many different types on internet connections like dial-up, dsl, satellite, cable and 3G and 4G connections.  You need to determine what is best for you and what is offered in your area, dial-up is typically the slowest connection and uses a phone line, dsl uses a broadband connection that is faster, satellite uses a satellite to connect, cable connects through your cable tv and 3G and 4G connect through your mobile phone.  Once you choose a provider you need to get a modem, some providers will provide the modem for you, a modem will connect you to the internet and then you may need a router if you want to connect multiple devices to the internet.  You can get a wireless router if you want to connect wirelessly to the internet.  Now that you are connected you are ready to surf the web.

A few more things to consider are web browsers and the cloud, a web browser is the software program that you use to go to websites and access the internet, some common web browsers are Safari, Internet Explorer, Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox and Microsoft Edge.  The cloud refers basically to anything that you can access over the internet, things in the cloud are saved over internet servers instead of saved onto a computer.  Things like files, photos, and even email are stored in the cloud.  You can also share files or photos with others when using the cloud.

Reference:
GCF Global. (n.d.) Internet basics: What is the internet? Retrieved November 3, 2019 from https://edu.gcfglobal.org/en/internetbasics/what-is-the-internet/1/

Thanks

Thank you for reading through my site, I hope it has been helpful for you in learning to navigate the in's and out's of the new digital age of healthcare.  Now that you have a better knowledge of basic internet navigation and some tools to help you select quality websites and applications you should be better prepared to manage your healthcare online.