ACP joins the Coalition for Trust in Health and Science initiative to curb misinformation

ACP is proud to participate in the newly established Coalition for Trust in Health & Science, which includes more than 50 leading health organizations. The coalition's goals are to support science-based health decisions based on credible information and enhanced trust in health and science organizations and professionals, and to debunk disinformation and misinformation. The group also aims to help patients make science-based, personally appropriate choices and decisions for themselves, their families, and the communities in which they live and work. Learn more on the coalition's website.

In related news, an Ideas and Opinions piece published by Annals of Internal Medicine on March 7 discussed a new YouTube tagging policy that will attempt to steer consumers to credible information sources by prioritizing credible sources in its search algorithm. Christine Laine, MD, MPH, FACP, Editor-in-Chief of Annals, and Hussain Lalani, MD, MPH, of Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, noted that individuals may still tend to rely on sources they trust for health information, like friends or even celebrities, and that it is uncertain how such tagging will influence the public's health literacy.

“YouTube invites feedback from users and content contributors. Health professionals who see potentially problematic posts or have ideas about how to further elevate good health information should respond to YouTube's invitation for feedback,” they wrote. “Because health professionals are often viewed as trustworthy sources, we should routinely ask our patients who seem misinformed where they get their information and attempt to direct them to credible sources.”