Narrator: Coming up on Mayo Clinic Q&A,
Dr. Melanie Swift: It's like drinking from a fire hydrant of
information that can be really confusing, particularly if
you're getting information from all different sources. So,
people often will get news, really from social media.
That's probably the worst way to get your news, you get a mix of
valid information and opinion, and frankly propaganda.
Narrator: Finding credible information about COVID-19,
vaccines, and the spread of variants can be a difficult
task. Today on Mayo Clinic Q&A, we will offer tips on how you
can find trusted sources and help you separate fact from
fiction.
Dr. Melanie Swift: If you're going to a website or vetting
something that you've seen in social media, there are some
tips that you can incorporate: Is this coming from a trusted
site? Is this something that seems out of left field? Is this
discordant from what you've been hearing from public health
authorities? Can you run this by your doctor or provider? Your
own provider is a trusted source of information.
Dr. Halena Gazelka: Welcome, everyone to Mayo Clinic Q&A. I'm
your host, Dr. Halena Gazelka. The information about COVID-19
changes rapidly, and it can be very difficult to keep up. The
internet is a great source of information, but the opposite is
true, too. So, how do you know if the information that you're
looking at is reliable and accurate? Here with us to offer
simple tips is Dr. Melanie Swift. She's a Mayo Clinic
preventative medicine specialist. Thanks for being
here today, Melanie.
Dr. Melanie Swift: Thanks for having me, Halena.
Dr. Halena Gazelka: Well, I have to say this is a really
pertinent topic, and it has been for the past two years while we
have been dealing with this. But I have never seen so much
information on a topic as on COVID-19, and it seems to change
almost hourly or daily for sure. So, how do people know that
they're getting reliable information?
Dr. Melanie Swift: Yeah, you're absolutely right. There is.
It's like drinking from a fire hydrant of information. And so,
it can be really confusing, particularly if you're getting
information from all different sources. So, people often will
get news, really from social media, and that's probably the
worst way to get your news, honestly, because you get a mix
of valid information and opinion, and, frankly,
propaganda. So, yeah. So, online there are some places that you
can reliably go and get information that you can trust.
So, the CDC is one site that obviously has lots of
information about COVID-19. When things change, guidance changes.
That's the first place that that guidance change is going to
happen. So, that's a trusted source. Healthcare institutions
like Mayo Clinic and other academic medical centers will
maintain websites that have trusted, vetted information that
medical experts have reviewed. There are also some
organizations like the American Medical Association, or the
Infectious Diseases Society of America, IDSA. So, those
professional medical organizations will put
information on their website that you can trust.
Dr. Halena Gazelka: Is that information in simple terms that
anyone can understand, or not necessarily?
Dr. Melanie Swift: Yeah, no, they actually do have patient
facing education on those sites that are really intended for the
general public. Yes, there will be some other information that's
targeted to their physician members, but patients are able
to go there and get information that they can digest as well.
Dr. Halena Gazelka: So, those are some good sources that
people can look at. But what sort of information should
people be leery of? And what are the warning signs that
information may not be credible?
Dr. Melanie Swift: There are a lot of organizations that are
putting information out there, and the organization may have a
name that sounds reasonable. But in fact, is a front for just
someone's personal opinion, or perhaps some group that's got an
agenda, political or otherwise. So, going to a site like that
first of all if you've never heard of this organization
before, be a little bit wary. There should be an About Us tab
on that website where you can click and learn more about the
organization, who's behind it, who funds it, do they have a
board, and who's on that board. So, you want to be sure that if
you're going to an organization that's putting out information,
that it's a nonprofit, that they're transparent about who's
running the site, and who the leaders of the organization are
and what their credentials are.
Dr. Halena Gazelka: Melanie, you wrote a piece about
misinformation and how individuals might identify it
and avoid it. Would you run us through your tips that you
provided?
Dr. Melanie Swift: Sure, sure. So, this is sort of the sniff
test, I call it. You know, if you're going to a website or
vetting something that you've seen in social media, there are
some tips that you can sort of incorporate to ask yourself a
little sort of checklist. So, first of all, is this coming
from a trusted site, like CDC? So, that's good. Second is, is
this something that seems out of left field? Is this discordant
from what you've been hearing from public health authorities,
from CDC? Can you run this by your doctor or provider?
Because your own provider is a trusted source of information
and can help you vet this kind of information. So, does it
seem to be making a claim that is miraculous, or that is, you
know, flying in the face of what other trusted sources are
saying? So, those are all really red flags that this probably is
not a claim that you want to promote or believe. You can also
type the claim into a Google search, and you will often find
that it's already been refuted. You can find that, you know,
it's already been investigated and found to be a false claim or
is part of a misinformation campaign that way.
Dr. Halena Gazelka: Melanie, I have found that even as a
physician, I have difficulty sifting through all of the
information that is available on COVID-19, and I rely on experts
such as yourself to help be aware of what's in the medical
literature that actually is valid and reliable data. So, I
can only imagine it's very difficult for everyone to sift
through. Now how do individuals protect themselves and protect
from sharing information that may or may not be credible? I
think that sometimes things are propagated because people keep
putting them on social media or other venues.
Dr. Melanie Swift: Absolutely. Yeah, absolutely. Sometimes when
people say they've done research, what they've done is
actually just an internet search looking for something that
supports what they want to say. So, just because someone says, I
have done my research, and I learned this fact, do not
believe that that's a vetted fact. All those tips that we
just talked about are good things to do to check it out.
But ultimately, sometimes you just can't determine if what
they're saying is true or not. So, the bottom line is if you're
not sure, don't share it. Especially if it's something
that's counter to public health advice right now, because there
is a lot of misinformation. Unfortunately, some of it is
intentional, but a lot of it is also just well-meaning people
who've heard something that sounds like it's important. They
may not have vetted it to see if it's true, but they share it
because it sounds very interesting. And that's the kind
of thing that can kind of go viral within a social network,
and then other people start to believe it. So, if you're not
sure, don't share.
Dr. Halena Gazelka: Those are great tips, Melanie. And I think
this is important for topics other than COVID-19, too. As a
physician, I often have patients bring in information, and
they'll ask me while I read about this. And so, I will
either look into it or I will already know the medical
literature, because it's in a topic that is in my expertise
and be able to share that with them. So, I think these tips are
terrific. Thank you for sharing with us today.
Dr. Melanie Swift: Glad you mentioned expertise. Can I add
one other thing?
Dr. Halena Gazelka: Yes, please.
Dr. Melanie Swift: Information about COVID-19 that's coming
from medical experts will typically be coming from an
expert who's trained in the field. So, they're either
trained in infectious diseases, or pulmonary medicine, or public
health and preventive medicine, but probably not from a field
that's completely unrelated. You know, so if someone's training
was in say gastroenterology or cardiology or something else,
and they're espousing some views and opinions about COVID-19, or
the COVID vaccines that is counter to public health, you
need to be very suspicious of that because really the
authoritative voice on those issues are coming from people
that were trained in that specialty.
Dr. Halena Gazelka: That's a great point. Thank you for being
here today, Melanie.
Dr. Melanie Swift: Thank you for having me.
Dr. Halena Gazelka: Our thanks to Dr. Melanie Swift,
preventative medicine specialist at Mayo Clinic, for being here
today to talk to us about where should we get information on
COVID-19, and how do we know if we can trust it. I hope that
you learned something. I know that I did. We wish each of you
a wonderful day.
Narrator: Mayo Clinic Q&A is a production of the Mayo Clinic
News Network and is available wherever you get and subscribe
to your favorite podcasts. To see a list of all Mayo Clinic
podcasts, visit newsnetwork.mayoclinic.org. Then
click on podcasts. Thanks for listening and be well. We hope
you'll offer a review of this and other episodes when the
option is available. Comments and questions can also be sent
to mayoclinicnewsnetwork@mayo.edu.