Misinformation and Disinformation in Healthcare

There is a lot of misinformation on the Internet. ChatGPT and other generative AI platforms are contributing to the problem.

Misinformation is defined by Merriam-Webster as: "incorrect or misleading information."

Increasingly, you may also find disinformation on the Internet.

Disinformation is defined by Merriam-Webster as: "false information deliberately and often covertly spread (as by the planting of rumors) to influence public opinion or obscure the truth."

There are also predatory and fake journals that publish research studies that are not based on real data. Some of these just take advantage of researchers who need to publish to keep their jobs, and others deliberately publish false studies as part of disinformation campaigns.

This is why it's important to search bibliographic databases rather than relying on searching Google or Google Scholar or querying AI platforms (though all are useful tools if used judiciously). Bibliographic databases, such as Cinahl and Medline are less likely to lead you to studies that are false or deliberately misleading. When a false study does make its way into a bibliographic database, you are more likely to find a retraction notice, as journals report when they have discovered something amiss with an article they have published.