Health Information Search Guidelines
When searching the internet for medical information, start with the links from credible sources (see Sarahealth content rules), which are accountable to the public trust. They will do a reasonable job of boiling down the facts. Stay clear of blogger sites that “spin” material and please refer to the critical thinking link. If you’re doing a Pubmed search, visit a public library, and discuss with the librarian how to look for review articles. A review article summarizes how the condition/disease you’re interested in was once viewed and treated by the medical community, and takes us to where we are today, as of the publication date of the article. These types of articles are a little easier to follow. You will not be able to determine whether it is a “good” review or bad review article, which often has a lot to with familiarity of the academic players and authors involved in the review. This is not meant as an insult; you just can’t know that unless you work in the field. Stay clear of articles that report on laboratory studies, also known as bench research: these have no relevance to what happens in the clinical arena at the bedside. And if they do, you won’t understand how unless you can boast credentials in one of the basic sciences (e.g. molecular biology, microbiology, etc.). Even then, scientific disciplines are very specific. Some journals are referenced journals, but not peer-reviewed; these may contain summary articles that are easier to follow, but the articles would not have been peer-reviewed and could still be biased.

Assessing Medical Journal Literature
You should note that merely having an article published in the literature by good researchers with good credentials at reputable institutions does not establish their findings as fact. The majority of research findings over time are frequently refuted, contradicted, or reinterpreted. Proper assessment of the literature requires an understanding of this. Any major change in thought regarding an issue is usually confirmed by other researchers doing additional studies before it is generally accepted. For any particular perspective on a medical issue, careful research will uncover many papers from several disciplines that contradict each other. Even consensus views on issues published by professional societies may be changed with future understandings.

Contacting a Journal Author
If you have a genuine criticism of a medical or peer-reviewed journal article, it's best to send a letter to the journal editor. The journal authors respond to their peers' criticisms in the appropriate forum the journal provides. However, be forewarned: your letter will be printed along with the journal author's response. This may be embarrassing to you if you've written a letter that is uninformed. Before you send the letter to the journal, use whatever resources you can to assess whether having your letter published will help you, or hurt you. Do not engage in a spam campaign by just emailing insulting or disrespectful comments to a journal author, and avoid using blogger sites to "hail" the journal author. If you do this, you may be ignored. “Patient spam” as it’s now called, is considered an annoyance and reflects badly on the patient community at large.