EVALUATING A WEBSITE FOR CREDIBILITY - Assignment Example

Critical Website Evaluation Critical Website Evaluation Using Google to search for “health resources for nurses” returned a result for a listing of NM/LM web references, one of which was http://nccam.nih.gov. This is the website for the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine [NCCAM]. Since this website is for one of the subsidiary departments of the National Institutes of Health, it can be assumed that health professionals may make use of this site in their work. Additionally, other health websites may use governmental sites as a guide to providing information on their own sites.

Therefore, analyzing the apparent credibility is important to the safety of medical practice and medical resources on the Internet. Nurses specifically should be able to evaluate the credibility of a website as they are often the first and last point of contact for a patient with questions about their medical health. Referencing a patient to a known safe and helpful website, such as http://nccam.nih.gov can help a patient feel informed about their condition and its treatment. This website would generally be considered to be an authoritative source since it carries a .

gov suffix. This suffix indicates that it is a website that operates as part of the United States government. Not only is it a website carrying the name of the United States government, it is part of the website system for the National Institutes of Health, giving it weight in areas of health and medicine. The website's home page clearly identifies the NCCAM as the organization responsible for the site, as well as labeling the National Institutes of Health as the parent organization. At the bottom of every page is the physical address and phone number for the organization, as well as their logo, a major point in figuring credibility and bias (Rabjohn, Cheung, & Lee, 2008).

All their pages are dated with the last time the page was updated, and research articles, such as the one found at http://nccam.nih.gov/research/results/spotlight/011011.htm clearly state the author's name and affliation. NCCAM is an organization designed to propagate information about complementary medicine, so obviously the articles on the site focus on that topic. Despite this, the site does offer information both supporting and detracting from various alternative medical treatments, as seen at http://nccam.nih.gov/research/results/.

Research papers are presented regardless of their findings or the author's(s') stance on the treatments, making the site a valuable source of unbiased information (Rabjohn, Cheung, & Lee, 2008). The text is plain and readable, and the site is highly functional. There is little use of Flash-based applets or other potentially difficult media, which helps to make the website more accessible (Abou-Zahra, 2005). The homepage feels crowded with too many elements, but it is easy to separate what is important.

Though images used are only marginally relevant to the information being conveyed, their usage is minimal and non-intrusive. The pages provide easily-spotted links to the site policies, accessibility information, FAQ, and a site map. Their privacy and site user policies are clearly laid out in plain language at http://nccam.nih.gov/tools/privacy.htm and http://nccam.nih.gov/tools/privacypolicy1.htm. Use of the site does not require any identifying information from the user. Contact information is only collected in order to subscribe to the NCCAM email newsletter, which is entirely optional and can be unsubscribed from at any time.

The only part of the site that absolutely requires registration is the use of the Online Continuing Education System, and even then, only if a medical practitioner is using the system to receive credit. This website has many articles of interest and use to nurses. There is a special set of articles designated specifically for health practitioners, http://nccam.nih.gov/health/providers/, which provide such resources as patient information sheets and guides to speaking with patients about complementary treatment.

There is also the aforementioned Continuing Education System, http://nccam.nih.gov/training/videolectures/, where medical practitioners can receive credit for participating in online seminars and video lectures. There are also instructions and explanations of training grants that nurses who practice traditional medicine can apply for to gain education in complementary and alternative medicine practice, at http://nccam.nih.gov/training/overview.htm. The website http://nccam.nih.gov is found to be a credible source for medical information about complementary and alternative medical practice.

It is balanced, accessible, and completely safe to view. The site carries with it the backing of the National Institutes of Health and the United States government, so nurses and other medical practitioners can make use of its information without fear. Reference Abou-Zahra, S. Ed. (2005). Preliminary Review of Web Sites for Accessibility. In Web Accessibility Initiative. Retrieved March 10, 2011 NCCAM. National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine. National Institutes of Health, 4 Mar. 2011. Web. 10 Mar. 2011. . Rabjohn, N.

, Cheung, C., & Lee, M. (2008). Examining the Perceived Credibility of Online Opinions: Information Adoption in the Online Environment. Proceedings of the 41st Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences. doi:1530-1605/08