Wikipedia as Informal Self-Education for Clinical Decision-Making in Medical Practice
Wikipedia as Informal Self-Education for Clinical Decision-Making in Medical Practice - scientific work related to Wikipedia quality published in 2017, written by David Matheson and Catherine Matheson-Monnet.
Overview
Background For almost any topic, a Wikipedia page will appear among the first ten items of a search online. Wikipedia is also a site whose quality and reliability has been called into question. Methods In this paper, authors aim to discuss medical practitioners’ use of Wikipedia, what this consists of and what it might be. Authors consider the context and history of Wikipedia before discussing the relationship between Wikipedia and the medical profession. In so doing, authors will consider Wikipedia as a means of informal self-education and the extent to which it might inform clinical decision-making. Authors compare with the existing literature results from two small-scale empirical studies of Wikipedia and clinical decision-making. Results Notwithstanding issues over quality and reliability, Wikipedia’s rules on verifiability are such that its articles are very heavily referenced, and this is just as true of health-related articles. The Cochrane/Wikipedia Initiative in improving the quality and reliability of medical and health pages in Wikipedia is significant in increasing reliability. Authors respondents largely concurred with the results from earlier studies on the use of Wikipedia by medical practitioners. Conclusion Perhaps the very doubt over Wikipedia’s accuracy is its greatest strength as a means of informal education of doctors. That medical and health articles on Wikipedia can be so fully referenced and still be doubted is arguably a good thing and one whose effects may be spread into other, more trusted, publications. Hence, one might envisage a future where no one source is taken automatically on trust. Keywords Wikipedia, informal education, continued professional development, medical education.
