Abstract

The present and the future of health information are based on eHealth and knowledge management. Some aspects of this future were discussed at the High Level Ministerial Conference on eHealth, held in Barcelona in March 2010, where eHealth was seen as a tool for integration in European politics. The problem of access to health information on the internet and knowledge management policies as an effective tool in the improvement of clinical practice and the search for an excellent health system are also analyzed in this article.

Abstract

The transmission of fraudulent or misleading information on health through the internet is a major problem. Librarians must intervene to curb the scourge, using the tools of our profession: the tendency and ability to analyze sources of information, easy access to reliable sources and the obligation to train users. These resources are reasons enough for us to intervene as part of our duty to provide media, evaluation criteria, tutorials, etc. that develop users’ capacity to recognize false information. Some performance measures are proposed and useful web links to verify or evaluate the veracity of certain information are suggested.

Abstract

Law and Information are two concepts that need each other, although the complexity of their relationship is not always fully understood. We propose an overview of the main areas where this relationship is more intimate and fundamental. To make this overview more comprehensive we will focus on the three functions that Law can exercise over Information: hide, preserve and share. All topics discussed are highly related and the discussion of one has to take into account the other. The good news is that Law has been responding to the needs of the society due to the challenges posed by technological and social changes for millenia and it has the tools to do it again. For this, legal practitioners need the support of information professionals to guide them through all the new phenomena arising from digital information.

Abstract

The information systems departments of European health services have the challenge of creating a dose record and reporting system of doses from medical procedures for its inclusion in the patient’s medical history, in compliance with Directive 2013/59 Euratom, which determines the obligation to manage the measurement and evaluation of the doses as well as the evaluation of the risk associated therewith. It is important the fact that this information must be universal, because the main objective is that every patient be able to access all information about medical radiology exposures regardless of the equipment, center or organization where it has been performed. In this aerticle the main technological challenges and problems are presented and basic solutions are described to be applied in developing environments of record systems using the learned experience in the project for the measurement of doses derived from radiology explorations in Spain.

Abstract

The factors that affect users as they search for health information and conduct a self-diagnosis online among a nationally representative sample of Chileans with internet access were analysed. The results indicate that three groups of variables largely explain this phenomenon: 1) the experiences that users had when commenting to their doctors about what they found online; 2) individual-psychological aspects such as pre-existing medical conditions; and 3) technological factors such as confidence and efficacy regarding internet use. Our research showed that this is a growing trend: more than 90% of respondents said that during the last year they had searched for health information on the internet at least once, while 85% said they had revised their symptoms and self-diagnosed.

Abstract

Journalists specialized in health information have changed their work routines because of Internet and social networks. Generating health content allows researchers, physicians and patients to be connected and, in this respect, media play a prescriber role in the society. In this paper, the prevailing precariousness in the media is analyzed in order to see if it affects health information and the specialization of its professionals. This work is based on a qualitative research, using in-depth interviews with health information journalists belonging to 16 Spanish media. The research underscores the priority of certain resources, the need to enable verification processes and to face new professional challenges. This research is part of the Aula Nebrija-MSD Spain of Communication and Health Sciences funded project.

Abstract

The new information flows and the collapse of the journalistic monopoly in the intermediation with the public, have created opportunities and dysfunctions in biomedical information. To the problems of hype and commercialization, those related to the lack of filters and the diffusion of bad science have been added. This article discusses the challenges posed by these problems and the perspectives in academic research, communication and journalism. 

Abstract

The scientific community is facing one of its greatest challenges in solving a global health problem: the Covid-19 pandemic. This situation has generated an unprecedented volume of publications. What is the volume of scientific publications on Covid-19? The general objective of this research work is to obtain a global vision of the daily growth of scientific production on Covid-19 in various databases (Dimensions, Web of Science Core Collection, Scopus, PubMed, and eight repositories). In relation to the results obtained, Dimensions indexes a total of 9,435 publications (69% with peer review and 2,677 preprints) well above Scopus (1,568) and WoS (718). This is a classic bibliometric phenomenon of exponential growth (R2 = 0.92). The daily global growth rate is 500 publications and the production doubles every 15 days. In the case of PubMed the weekly growth is around 1,000 publications. Of the eight repositories studied, PubMed Central, medRxiv and SSRN are the leaders, but despite their contribution, journals continue to be the core of scientific communication. Finally, it has been established that three of every four publications on the Covid-19 are available in open access. The information explosion which places us, information professionals, at the centre of the information pandemic demands a serious and coordinated response.

Abstract

The Covid-19 pandemic has greatly uneven impacts on sectors of society. People with disabilities are particularly vulnerable to it and so it is important to understand both the disability perspective and the role of social media. This information may help to reduce the risk from the disease. In response, this article uses thematic analysis to investigate 59 disability-related tweets from March 10 to April 4, 2020 that were retweeted at least 500 times, with a quarter of a million retweets altogether. This approach generates quick insights into widely resonating disability-related issues. The results suggest the value of Twitter for disseminating information about the risk, offers or requests for support, the ability of many people with disabilities to adjust to the changes well, and information about individuals with the disease. In addition, there was outrage at suggestions that the disease was less serious because young people without disabilities were relatively low risk, and that people with disabilities might be denied equal access to medical treatment. As one tweet pointed out, people in less vulnerable categories should not be told on Twitter or elsewhere that the disease is less relevant to them because their actions can impact others through social spreading.

Abstract

The global health crisis arising from the expansion of Covid-19 has led the WHO to coin the term infodemics to define a situation of fear and insecurity in which the dissemination of false information has become widespread. These hoaxes take advantage of this type of emotion to spread faster than the coronavirus itself, generating fear and distrust in the population. The spread of these lies, part of which circulates on social networks, is dangerous because it affects health and can make the contagion worse and cause people to die. This research aims to analyse and visualise the network created around the false news circulating on Twitter about the coronavirus pandemic using the technique of social network analysis. NodeXL Pro software has been used. Several measures of network centrality have been used to generate the network of connections between users, to represent their interaction patterns and to identify the key actors within the network. In addition, a semantic network has also been created to discover the differences in the way groups of people talk about the topic. The results show that the situation in the USA dominates the conversation, despite the fact that at that time there were hardly any cases, and Europe had become the global epicentre of the Covid-19. Despite reports of inaction by journalists and critics of the Trump government, there are several weeks in which disinformation distracts from taking more effective action and actually preventing contagion. Moreover, among the actors with the most prominent positions in the network, there is little presence of scientists and institutions that help to disprove the hoaxes and explain the hygiene measures.