Monash University, Clayton, Victoria, Australia.
Young Urology Researchers Organisation, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
BJU Int. 2022 Mar;129(3):409-417. doi: 10.1111/bju.15667. Epub 2021 Dec 23.
To determine the credibility of online urological information that medical students are likely to encounter, determine possible discrepancies between the credibility of information pertaining to different areas within urology (especially those less relevant to patients), and assess trends in the sponsorship of online urological educational material.
Health on the Net (HON) principles were used as a validated benchmark to assess the reliability of websites that appeared in the first 150 results of a search using the Google search engine. A variety of urological search terms were used, grouped into three broad categories with varying relevance to patients and medical students. Further analysis focussed on the sponsorship of assessed websites.
A total of 5400 websites were assessed for validation over a set of 36 search terms. Only 843/5400 (15.6%) of these were HONcode accredited, indicating a large proportion of unverified and potentially unreliable information. Search engine rankings usually favoured accredited websites (P = 0.009), and accreditation peaked at 51.1% (184/360) in the first page of results, but sorting became weaker outside the highest search results. The percentage of accredited websites varied significantly between different subcategories of search terms such as conditions (18.3% [329/1800], P = 0.003) and procedures (13.5% [243/1800], P = 0.043). Governmental/educational and commercial sources supported the majority of websites assessed for sponsorship (21% [31/150] and 33% [49/150], respectively), and the former were more likely to rank highly in search results.
Online urological information frequently lacks validation and is often of indeterminate credibility. There is a marked decrease in the proportion of accredited websites beyond the highest-ranked results and when considering search categories more relevant to students and less relevant to patients. Students cannot necessarily rely on free online sources for accurate information and could benefit from the development of more rigorous novel tools and platforms.
确定医学生可能遇到的在线泌尿科信息的可信度，确定泌尿科内不同领域（特别是与患者关系不大的领域）信息可信度之间可能存在的差异，并评估在线泌尿科教育材料赞助的趋势。
使用健康网络（HON）原则作为经过验证的基准，评估在使用 Google 搜索引擎进行搜索的前 150 个结果中出现的网站的可靠性。使用了各种泌尿科搜索词，分为与患者和医学生相关性不同的三个广泛类别。进一步的分析集中在评估网站的赞助上。
对 36 个搜索词中的一组共 5400 个网站进行了验证评估。在这些网站中，只有 843/5400（15.6%）符合 HONcode 认证，这表明大量信息未经核实，可能不可靠。搜索引擎排名通常偏向于认证网站（P=0.009），并且在结果的第一页，认证率达到 51.1%（184/360），但在搜索结果之外，排名变得较弱。不同搜索词子类别的认证网站比例差异显著，例如疾病（18.3%[329/1800]，P=0.003）和手术（13.5%[243/1800]，P=0.043）。政府/教育和商业来源支持评估的大多数网站（分别为 21%[31/150]和 33%[49/150]），并且前者在搜索结果中排名更高。
在线泌尿科信息经常缺乏验证，并且往往可信度不确定。在最高排名结果之外以及考虑到与学生更相关而与患者不太相关的搜索类别时，认证网站的比例明显下降。学生不能依赖免费的在线资源来获取准确的信息，他们可能受益于开发更严格的新型工具和平台。
