[Information quality and health risks in Spanish-language retail websites for Chinese herbal medicine]. / Medicina herbal china ofertada en páginas web en español: calidad de la información y riesgos.

OBJECTIVE: The growing use of purchase online via Internet retailers favours the access to potentially toxic natural products. It also contributes to the quick dissemination of the claims made by the retailers on efficacy and safety, these claims being not always based upon reliable information. Here, we have conducted an online search to find Spanish-language retail websites for Chinese herbal medicine and we have analysed them for the quality of product information and the potential health risks. METHODS: i) Online search in Google España to find Spanish-language retail websites for Chinese herbal medicine in which we analysed both the claims regarding possible health benefits and adequate safe use indications ii) Identification of potentially toxic herbs in the websites iii) Quantification of Chinese herbal medicines withdrawn by the Agencia Española de Medicamentos y Productos Sanitarios (AEMPS). RESULTS: 1) Only one third of the 30 Spanish-language retail websites found which sell Chinese herbal medicine observe the law, given that the other websites include illegal Western disease claims as marketing tools, 2) Five websites provide some safety information, 3) Two websites offer potentially toxic herbs and 4) Chinese herbal medicine adulterated with sibutramine, silfenafil or their analogues make a considerable percentage of the total products withdrawn by the AEMPS. CONCLUSION: Online health seekers should be warned about misinformation on retail websites for Chinese herbal medicine and directed to a Spanish government Web site for guidance in safely navigating the Internet for buying Chinese herbal medicine.

[Internet presence of neurologists, psychiatrists and medical psychotherapists in private practice]. / Internetauftritte niedergelassener Neurologen, Psychiater und ärztlicher Psychotherapeuten.

OBJECTIVE: The world wide web provides new options to physicians in terms practice marketing, information brokerage, and process optimization. This study explores prevalence and content of homepages of neurologists, psychiatrists and medical psychotherapists in private practice. METHODS: Through the legal bodies of physicians in private practice in six northern German states neurologists, psychiatrists and medical psychotherapists were identified. According to a standardized and operationalized criteria catalogue, homepages were rated. RESULTS: 1804 physicians were identified, 352 (19.5 %) had operated a homepage. Higher frequencies of homepages found for male physicians (vs. female physicians), practice centres (vs. single practices) and urban practices (vs. rural practices). In average, practices reached 18.8 (±â€Š5.3) of 42 points; contact data and accessibility information were generally available; information as to qualification and specialization was provided more infrequently. Legal specifications were not considered in more than every second homepage, interactive elements like online appointment of follow-up prescription were only rarely offered. CONCLUSIONS: Only every fifth neurological or psychiatric practice operates an own homepage, higher competition (urban area) and higher professionalization (practice centres) seem to act as promotors. The legal framework has to be focused, and patient needs should be taken into account.

Legal parameters of alternative-complementary modalities in nursing practice.

Complementary and alternative healing modalities are increasing in popularity. Partially in response to client demand and partially because of a strong history in providing care encompassing the whole person, nurses have responded by incorporating selected alternative therapies within select professional services. There are questions, however, as to whether some or all of these modalities are within the boundaries of nursing practice. Because most professional practice acts are vague in relation to specific therapies, a model for legal analysis is presented.

eHealth in Latin America and the Caribbean: development and policy issues.

This paper reviews trends and issues in health and in the information and communication technologies (ICT) market as they relate to the deployment of eHealth solutions in Latin America and the Caribbean. Heretofore designed for industrialized countries and large organizations, eHealth solutions are being proposed as an answer to a variety of health-system management problems and health care demands faced by all health organizations including those in developing societies. Particularly, eHealth is seen as especially useful in the operational support of the new health care models being implemented in many countries. The authors examine those developments vis-à-vis the characteristics of the Latin American and the Caribbean health-sector organizational preparedness and technological infrastructure, and propose policy and organizational actions to foster the development of eHealth solutions in the region.

[E-health and Cyberdoc - "health portals" from a professional and quality assurance viewpoint]. / E-Health und Cyberdoc - Gesundheitsportale im Blickfeld von Standesrecht und Qualitätssicherung.

As a special expression of e-business in the health service the sphere of e-health has developed in recent years which increasingly manifests itself in the internet via health portals. Next to the transmitting of medical contents, the offer of community functions and the trading with goods from the medical sector, these health portals now increasingly provide advisory services for citizens by medical experts. Even if these services are predominantly effected by physicians, this activity is in agreement with the regulations of the currently valid professional responsibility law for German physicians, as its main emphasis (at the moment) is on health prevention and information. The safeguarding of quality of the online retrievable health information creates a further problem. The different approaches to the safeguarding of the quality of medical contents in the internet do not exempt the user from making a self-responsible decision as to which information he may consider reliable. This is due to the fact that there are no standardised control criteria.