Cinar: Website promotion of pathology 14 Journal of Medical Sciences and Health/May-Aug 2019/Volume 5/Issue 2 Study of the Quality of Website Information Related to Promotion of Pathology Ilkay Cinar ABSTRACT Aim: The aim of this study is to evaluate the reliability of information about pathology available to people at Turkish websites. Material and Method: The terms “pathology,” “what is pathology,” and “importance of pathology” were scanned into the most commonly used search engine in Turkey of “Google” in Turkish at 2018. The terms used in the research were considered to be terms used by patients and the public. The first 30 results for each search were used. The same websites reached as a result of the search were eliminated. Each website was classified according to the author as health-related organizations, news, personal, doctors, and undetermined. The websites were assessed according to 15-question scale that was prepared to assess information related to definition, functions, and importance of pathology. Results: The search reached 90 websites. Of these, nine were the same website. As a result, the evaluation included 81 websites. The mean points for the websites were 1.432 (min: 0, max: 13, and standard deviation: 4.28). When the information is distributed according to topic headings, proportionally, the most sufficient information appeared to be about “what is pathology” at 32.1%. The most insufficient information was given about “how does a pathology laboratory work (2.5%),” “place of pathology in genetic studies (2.5%),” and “importance of preventive medicine (2.5%).” Conclusion: According to our study, the information on “what is pathology” and “important of pathology” on the internet is not sufficient. Pathologists should be aware of this deficiency, and people should be properly informed about the importance of pathology. KEY WORDS: Pathology, internet, website, analysis, quality. Department of Pathology, Giresun University Prof. Dr. A. İlhan Özdemir Research and Training Hospital, Teyyaredüzü Mah, Atatürk Bulvarı No: 323 Giresun, Türkiye Address for correspondence: Ilkay Cinar, Department of Pathology, Giresun University Prof. Dr. A. İlhan Özdemir Research and Training Hospital, Teyyaredüzü Mah, Atatürk Bulvarı No: 323 Giresun, Türkiye. Phone: 905327981696. E-mail: a.ilkaycinar@gmail.com Introduction The internet is currently a source of information that is gaining more importance. In Turkey, the internet access in the first 3 months of 2010 was 36%, while in 2017, this was 66.8%. [1] Along with this rapid increase in the internet access, there are debates about information pollution, and the accuracy of the content of information obtained from this source. At present, debates and studies about this topic have been performed, with the first study product about the accreditation of websites the DISCERN instrument. [2] The DISCERN ® instrument can be used by producers, health professionals, and patients to assess written information about treatment choices and is the first standardized quality index for consumer health information. [2] In the literature, there are studies related to the content of website information about different fields related to health, but there is no study about websites providing information about pathology promotion. The aim of this study is to assess the sufficiency and reliability of Turkish language websites presenting information about pathology. Material and Method The terms “pathology,” “what is pathology,” and “importance of pathology” were scanned into the most commonly used search engine in Turkey of “Google” in Turkish at 2018. The terms used were not at the professional level of internet and medical knowledge but were considered to be terms chosen by the public and patients. For each term, the first 30 websites in the search list were identified. A study of Google ® traffic found the first 30 results of searches collected Access this article online Quick Response Code: Website: www.jmsh.ac.in ORIGINAL ARTICLE