Article type
Year
Abstract
Background: A pilot project, aimed at raising public awareness on health and health care-related issues and at broadly empowering consumers, has been funded to a consortium including The Mario Negri Institute, the Italian Cochrane Centre and Zadig Agency. Within the project a website has been launched with the aim of providing reliable information on the effects of health care interventions as well as to familiarize consumers with the world of clinical and epidemiological research.
Objectives: To enable patients, consumers and their associations to have an active participation in healthcare decisions. To provide them the tools necessary to critically evaluate health information.
Methods: In Italy the need and demand for information tailored to consumers is rapidly increasing. Existing websites (created by medical societies, pharmaceutical companies and consumers associations) are mostly passive vehicles disseminating reports and news without any attempt to critically appraise the content nor to empower users on how to find reliable information on their own. The website Partecipasalute is intended mainly for consumers, patients and their associations, with particular emphasis on: - Information on patients rights and on the work of patients associations; - Information on conflicts of interest in medicine; - Information on health care interventions that work; - Information on the rules and methods that should be adopted in clinical research, with particular emphasis on patients participation to clinical trials; - Information on the role of Research Ethic Committees With a view to: 1. Providing the tools necessary to critically appraise health information 2. Empower them in health care choices.
Results: The website is currently under construction and a first layout is being circulated among the members of the scientific board. It will be presented officially at the end of July 2004. We aim at presenting the general structure of the web site and the first results of a pilot survey carried out on a sample of professional and lay users.
Acknowledgements: The project was funded by Compagnia di San Paolo, Torino, Italy.
Objectives: To enable patients, consumers and their associations to have an active participation in healthcare decisions. To provide them the tools necessary to critically evaluate health information.
Methods: In Italy the need and demand for information tailored to consumers is rapidly increasing. Existing websites (created by medical societies, pharmaceutical companies and consumers associations) are mostly passive vehicles disseminating reports and news without any attempt to critically appraise the content nor to empower users on how to find reliable information on their own. The website Partecipasalute is intended mainly for consumers, patients and their associations, with particular emphasis on: - Information on patients rights and on the work of patients associations; - Information on conflicts of interest in medicine; - Information on health care interventions that work; - Information on the rules and methods that should be adopted in clinical research, with particular emphasis on patients participation to clinical trials; - Information on the role of Research Ethic Committees With a view to: 1. Providing the tools necessary to critically appraise health information 2. Empower them in health care choices.
Results: The website is currently under construction and a first layout is being circulated among the members of the scientific board. It will be presented officially at the end of July 2004. We aim at presenting the general structure of the web site and the first results of a pilot survey carried out on a sample of professional and lay users.
Acknowledgements: The project was funded by Compagnia di San Paolo, Torino, Italy.