Website Review |
Patient UK Website
www.patient.co.uk
I imagine I am not alone in finding that a large proportion of my clinical consultations have less to do with the effects of work on health than with the effects of health on work, particularly where health problems have led to prolonged sick leave, a poor attendance record or problems with performance at work. In these situations, employers and employees often want to understand better the nature of an employee's health problems, the treatment options available, the prospects for successful treatment and the resulting benefits at work. Consequently, occupational physicians often find ourselves needing to educate and inform the parties to such problems, where possible without having to explain everything from scratch ourselves.This being so, any source of clear, concise and reliable information on medical topics which is comprehensive and readily available is worth a look. The Patient UK Website, www.patient.co.uk, is one such source and one which I have found a great help in performing this education and information providing role.
Based on the well-tested hypothesis that a large proportion of the factual information one attempts to impart in a consultation will not be retained or fully understood by the recipient, being able to provide relevant and easily understandable written information can be an invaluable adjunct to efforts to inform and explain verbally in the limited time available.
Patient UK boasts >600 regularly updated patient information leaflets and it has rarely if ever let me down in my search for information to give an employee or an employer on a health or disease topic. Searching for information on any named topic is quick and easy and the search results are clearly presented, typically including information leaflets, details of patient support groups and a directory of websites (usually UK based) giving relevant additional information. Additional ‘PatientPlus’ information is provided for health professionals. The quality of the information is invariably good, being up to date, reliable in content and accessible in language and style, and the feedback from those who have received it or used the site themselves at my suggestion has likewise always been good.
The site is informative on the subject of its developers and sponsors, its purpose and target audience and the quality control procedures applied to its content, with information on all these readily accessible from the home page, as is the opportunity to provide feedback. Patient UK is a joint venture between Patient Information Publications (PiP) and Egton Medical Information Systems (EMIS). EMIS develops, supplies and supports General Practice computing systems and PiP is a partnership between two general practitioners with a particular interest in writing evidence-based patient information. They are editors and lead authors for the content.
There are no charges to users and no requirement to register or provide personal details in order to use the website. Advertisements are a mild irritation on some pages, but are not unduly intrusive or inappropriate to the site.
- Access speed = 5
- Speed of searches = 5
- User friendliness = 5
- Links to other web sites = 4
- Overall score = 5
- Speed of searches = 5
I consider this site is likely to be of general interest to any occupational physicians undertaking clinical consultations and well worth bookmarking.
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