Assessment of Credibility and Accuracy of Contents on Basic Life Support on the Internet in Korea and Japan

Sim, Min Seob; Song, Keun Jeong; Choi, Pil Jo; Kwon, Woon Yong; Song, Hyoung Gon; Jeong, Yeon Kwon

Abstract

PURPOSE
The internet is a vast resource for consumers. The internet is a decentralized, global medium, so quality management of health information is difficult for the lay person. Basic Life Support (BLS) is basic information provided for the lay person in the province of emergency medicine. The writers searched for BLS information on Korean and Japanese Web sites and assessed the quality of that information.
METHODS
We used the search engine 'Yahoo! Korea' in Korea and 'Yahoo! Japan' in Japan. The search references were 'Basic Life Support' and 'Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR)'. The assessment was based on three 'Credibility' and seven 'Content' factors. 'Credibility' factors composed of 'Source', 'Context' and 'Currency'. 'Content' factors composed of six factors of accuracy of six course of BLS and one factor of 'Original Source Stated'. We make our own criteria for each factors. And, If the web site fitted the criteria, we give 1 point, if not, give 0point. So, 'Credibility' factors point is 3 points full mark and 'Content' factors point is 7 points full mark.
RESULTS
Eight Korean and fifteen Japanese sites were found as a result of the search. No difference in 'Credibility' factors existed between the two nations' web sites. There was, however, a statistical difference in the 'Content' factors between the two nations' web site. The mean of 'Content' factors points is 3.75 and 5.06 in 7 points full mark, Korean web site and Japanese web site respectively.
CONCLUSION
Improvement in the quality of BLS on internet web sites is needed, especially BLS on 'Recovery position', 'Assessment of circulation', and 'Cardiac comp ression'.