Surfing the Web for Cancer Info

Hi,

Am realizing that many comprehensive cancer centers have a wealth of info on their web sites.
Found the following info on how to find cancer info.
Think most/if not all of the articles we see on the forums meet the requirement for trustworthy
journal articles/sources.
Posting the following as a reminder for when we do our own googling and searching and especially
for the newer members.
The thing that one MUST remember when reading about breast cancer......Is the information
specifically for TNBC or is it information about all breast cancers?    Hopefully, there will be
more and more information specifically on TNBC.
   

Surfing the Flood

How to find the best cancer information for you

Google “cancer,” and you’ll get 265 million hits. The flood of information that comes with a cancer diagnosis can be overwhelming. And yet, you need to know.

We talked to Ruti Volk, M.S.I., the U-M Comprehensive Cancer Center’s librarian, about the right ways to find the best information for you. She recently wrote “The Medical Library Association Guide to Cancer Information: Authoritative, Patient-Friendly, Print and Electronic Resources,” the first book of its kind in the field of oncology. As the manager of the Cancer Center’s Patient Education Resource Center, a full-service lending library, Volk provides professional searches on specific topics to patients free of charge.

Q: There’s so much information out there. Where do you start?
A: First, let me tell you where not to start: Don’t search on Google or Yahoo. If you put in your diagnosis, you’ll get a million hits. It’s overwhelming, and they aren’t sorted out so that you know what’s reputable and what’s not. The best places to start are general cancer sites provided by the National Cancer Institute, the American Cancer Society or People Living With Cancer. We’ve also developed our own Cancer Center Information Guides, which go further in providing links to good sites that are specific to a diagnosis.

Q: How can you tell if a Web site is providing quality information?
A: The Pew Internet & American Life Project recently published a study showing that 80 percent of those online– that’s about 113 million people–search the Internet for health information. But only 15 percent to 25 percent consistently check the source of the information they use to learn and even manage their health. You need to know who is providing the information and what is motivating them to provide it.

Q: Can you tell us what to look for specifically?
A: The most important thing is to read the “about us” section of the site. Look for sites that offer information written or reviewed by credentialed medical professionals. Be careful of sites that are selling something. Any information
they provide is going to be there to support sales. You want to look for sites that have been updated within the past three years. Their information should include references to respected scientific journals like The Journal of the
American Medical Association or The New England Journal of Medicine.

Q: What about sites like WebMD that feature articles written by doctors?
A: These sites are reliable for the most part, but keep in mind that a surgeon may have a very different perspective than a radiation oncologist. Naturally, they will be biased toward their own field of practice and may even promote therapies they offer. That’s why it’s better to seek out resources from the American Cancer Society or the National Cancer Institute, which work to balance these points of view.

Q: What if you’re having trouble finding what you need?
A: There’s an illusion that you can find everything you need to know on the Internet. I just published a study that showed that the Patient Education Resource Center provided new information to 96 percent of people who
requested searches. One person said they’d searched high and low, but couldn’t find the information we found. In a situation like this, you need experts to help. Also, too, we realize there are a lot of barriers to getting the information in the first place: You can be too busy caring for your family or maybe you’re too sick to sit at your computer.
(If you a go to the U of Michigan Cancer Center: People are encouraged to call the PERC....
Patient Education Resource Center on Level B1 Cancer Center , or call 734-647-8626 for assistance.)

TIPS

Appoint an information adviser. Ask someone to sift through information to help you find out what you need to know. This will help to keep you from getting overwhelmed.

Learn the lingo. Look at a Web site’s address. Anyone can get an address that ends with .com or .org. Only government organizations or educational institutions can have addresses ending in .gov or .edu.

Look for references to respected scientific literature. Journals such as The New England Journal of Medicine are edited by a panel of scientists who carefully review articles before publication to ensure truth and accuracy. Be leery of resources that cite newspaper articles in support of their claims.

Don’t focus on a single study. If you are looking for medical literature, look for review articles that evaluate a whole body of research rather than an individual study to get a better picture.

Check publication dates. Medicine is one of the fastest-evolving fields. Don’t rely on treatment information older than three years.

Beware of testimonials. Testimonials are a red flag. Remember, this is an advertising tactic. Don’t fall for gimmicks.

Try not to get hung up on statistics. You’re only one person and you can fall on either side of the statistics. “My mother survived stage 3A lung cancer. Only 25 percent of people diagnosed at this stage are alive five years after the diagnosis,” said Ruti Volk, Cancer Center librarian, “but for her, she’s 100 percent.”

http://www.cancer.med.umich.edu/living/surfing_the_flood.shtml

Please consider posting and sharing any other tips you might have for searching for information that
you think might be be helpful to others.

With caring and positive thoughts,
Grateful for today.................Judy

Hi Mainy,

Thanks for the GREAT tips for searching.

And thanks again to you and all the other members who post such good information and articles
on the forum.

Grateful for today..............Judy

Thank goodness there is more supportive and hopeful information on the internet and other places about 'triple negative' breast cancer than 6 years ago.

Great suggestions!! ..  & not too technical at all.   Thank you, Young mommy! 

FYI.............sharing some good info passed on to me about searching on the web.    

Search on:    "http://scholar.google.com".    http://scholar.google.com/

Google Scholar (http://scholar.google.com), a scientific / medical search engine that includes PUBMED and other science- and academic-oriented databases. It automatically filters out non-peer reviewed sources, while retaining the ease-of-use of Google. It can return more full-text sources and full pdf’s than Google itself does.
(One may customize it by clicking on settings in upper right, and turn off “patents” to avoid an avalanche of patent entries.)

You may want only what’s called clinical queries, which are defined as systematic reviews or meta-analyses. In that case enter:
"breast cancer" ("triple negative" OR basal) (intitle:“systematic review” OR intitle:meta-analysis)
which by using the “intitle:” parameter (no space after “intitle:” and the following term), demands that either the term “systematic review” or “meta-analysis” must be in the actual article title.

For critical reviews, literature reviews, etc., not just strict “systematic reviews”:
"breast cancer" ("triple negative" OR basal) (intitle:“review” OR intitle:meta-analysis)

You can also specify the years you want articles from.
Using   http://scholar.google.com/
Put in what you are searching for.
When you get the list of articles, you will find on the left of the page:
          Any time
          Since 2012
          Since 2011
          Since 2008
        Custom range...
   and one can click on time period wanted.
Below the time choices on the left:
          one can include or not include:      patents    and    citations

For a simple way to use Google Scholar:
       Go to:    http://scholar.google.com/    
       and use as one would use plain   " Google"    (or other search engine).



Grateful for today................Judy

Edited by Grateful for today - Aug 28 2012 at 5:43pm

"Bumping" up for members who have joined since Jan 2013.
Please see above posts.

Considerations when searching for information:
      Importance to review information one finds with one's physicians.
      Being very aware if an article is addressing breast cancer in general or TNBC specifically.
      Noting if an article is in a peer reviewed clinical journal or a research article awaiting clinical studies.

Please consider posting and sharing any other tips you have for searching for information that would
be be helpful for others.   Thanks.
     

With caring and positive thoughts,
Grateful for today.............Judy