HSNCB 376 Reflection 3
Health information and informatics play a critical role in changing and redefining health advice and care. Online resources like websites can offer critical primary health information to help one stay healthy and address some of the challenges that they may be encountering. The purpose of this reflection paper is to discuss my experience of exploring the “My Healthfinder” at health.gov. The tool offers critical health resources and information to help one manage their health and attain quality living, even when they have a certain condition.
Ease of Use and Navigation
The “My Healthfinder” tool is a website that provides health information and resources based on one’s needs. These needs are defined by one’s age and gender or sex. When one logs in with their age and sex, they get important ways to stay healthy on diverse aspects like required screenings and physician visits, particular tests based on their level of sexual activeness, and if one is concerned with their depression, weight, use of substances like alcohol and even drugs (ODPHP, 2022). Therefore, I find the tool easy to use because upon keying in one’s age and gender, it provides vital information or suggests some ways that one can implement to ascertain their health status at the moment.
Provision of Information
The tool provides one with the information, especially wide information which is essential to making decisions on diverse aspects of care. Consequently, the tool provided me with the information that I required. For instance, giving suggestions on certain areas that I should check was very important and useful to me. Again, the tool also provides more information on additional ways that one can stay healthy. These are healthy living aspects as suggested by the tool; making changes to one’s eating habits, regular physical activity to help keep fit and active, tips on mental health and relationships. The tool also provides information on maintaining safety at home and even when moving around as well as information on sexual health.
Recommending the Site
I would recommend the “My Healthfinder” to my patients, family and friends. The site is simple to navigate, has clarity and is engaging. More fundamentally, it provides sufficient information required by anyone who is keen on living a healthy life, irrespective of their age and gender or current situation. The site offers critical information that can help diverse people, especially on primary care ways at individual level.
Reviewing of Site and Reputable Resources
Patients need literacy resources to stay healthy and have sufficient information. Imperatively, other different sites like Nutrition.gov, and WebMD. These resources provide critical information to help one attain healthy living by developing good habits. For instance, under the U.S. department for agriculture, Nutrition.gov offers information on healthy diets and eating habits for individuals across age and health continuum. The WebMD website is a popular site for millions of people and offers information on different areas like healthy beauty, weight loss and die plans, food and recipes and fitness as well as sex and relationships (Nutrition.gov, 2022).
Pros and Cons
The pros of the “My Healthfinder” include being easy to access, offering information based on age and gender, and easy navigation. However, it does not offer information on other issues like the interaction between beauty and health. The pros of WebMD include wide coverage of issues, longevity which breeds trust, and easy to navigate. However, it requires subscription to access certain parts of the information. On its part, Nutrition.gov is easy to navigate but does not offer more information except on healthy eating habits alone.
References
Nutrition.gov (2022). Healthy Eating.
Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion (ODPHP) (2022 December 13). My
Healthfinder. https://health.gov/myhealthfinder/healthy-living
WebMD (2022). Living Healthy. https://www.webmd.com/living-healthy
ompetency 3
Students will analyze how consumer health information and informatics changes can redefine health advice and care.
Reflection
Reflect on the following in a minimum of 500 words.
This reflection is comprised of 1 review of a website centered on health literacy resources and data mining. This activity is meant to help you solidify your knowledge in preparation for the competency assessment.
Complete your reflection by responding to all prompts.
1) Healthy Literacy Resources
Explore the My Healthfinder tool at health.gov.
Answer the following questions:
Did you find the tool easy to use? Why or why not?
Did My Healthfinder provide you with the information that you needed?
Would you recommend My Healthfinder to your patients? To your family and friends? Why or why not?
As you review the site, think of other reputable resources that are available to improve patient literacy. What other places would you send your patients for health literacy resources?
What are the pros and cons of each site? Explain why you would send patients to each site. Be as specific as possible.
Submit your reflection.
