BACKGROUND: The Internet is an invaluable tool for researchers and certainly also a source of inspiration. However, never before has it been so easy to plagiarise the work of others by clipping together (copy & paste) an apparently original paper or review paper from paragraphs on several websites. Moreover, the threshold of stealing ideas, whether lifting paragraphs or perhaps even whole articles from the Internet, seems to be much lower than copying sections from books or articles. In this...

BACKGROUND: Many health information providers on the Internet and doctors with email accounts are confronted with the phenomenon of receiving unsolicited emails from patients asking for medical advice. Also, a growing number of websites offer "ask-the-doctor" services, where patients can ask questions to health professionals via email or other means of telecommunication. It is unclear whether these types of interactions constitute medical practice, and whether physicians have the ethical...

BACKGROUND: Comprehensive data available in the Canadian province of Manitoba since 1970 have aided study of the interaction between population health, health care utilization, and structural features of the health care system. Given a complex linked database and many ongoing projects, better organization of available epidemiological, institutional, and technical information was needed. OBJECTIVE: The Manitoba Centre for Health Policy and Evaluation wished to develop a knowledge repository...

BACKGROUND: Internet technology is transforming the general approach to communication and dissemination of information in the field of healthcare. However, it is also creating problems in terms of finding information, and knowing what credibility to place on the information found. The chaotic nature of the World Wide Web (WWW) and the simplistic approach adopted by search engines can make the task of finding relevant information difficult, and the user can waste considerable amounts of time...

BACKGROUND: People are using the Internet as a method of getting medical advice. Some Web sites include the email addresses of physicians, and some people are contacting these physicians for advice. As many patients undergo surgery on a "day surgery" basis, they often have no opportunity to ask anesthesiologists for advice before surgery; these patients may be more likely than other groups to use Internet email to ask questions. It seemed that it would be useful to find out what, if any,...

CONTEXT: A recent concern and topic of many publications in the last three years has been the quality of health information and services for the public on the Internet. OBJECTIVES: To identify and summarize studies published in the peer-reviewed literature evaluating the quality of information and services for consumers on the Internet, including information published on web sites, information on newsgroups and mailing lists and other venues such as email contacts with doctors, as well as...

INTRODUCTION: The Official Medical College of Barcelona (OMCB) is a centennial corporation created to defend the interests of the medical profession and ensure that it adheres to ethical and scientific norms in order to offer the best healthcare services to society. The Internet has the capacity to transmit a volume of information that is both difficult to control and widely available. The OMCB emphasizes the necessity to contribute to the accreditation of medical/healthcare information...

CONTEXT: A recent concern and topic of many publications in the last three years has been the quality of health information and services for the public on the Internet. OBJECTIVES: To identify and summarize studies published in the peer-reviewed literature evaluating the quality of information and services for consumers on the Internet, including information published on web sites, information on newsgroups and mailing lists and other venues such as email contacts with doctors, as well as...