Each person will writ a review of a nontraditional or alternative type drug product (e.g a herbal product, a homeopathic product, melatonin, DHEA etc) for a specific indication. You may also choose vitamin product or mainstream drug with an alternative or non-approved claim.
1) find 3 different web sites about the product and its claim. Try to locate different sites e.g from a mainstream government or nonprofit site, a commercial site, a site posted by a non-affiliated individual etc. DO NOT USE A MEDLINE ABSTRACT OR A JOURNAL ARTICLE THAT IS PUBLISHED ON THE WEB. Answer the following questions in a tabular format to compare the information from all the 3 websites:
- who mounted the information? What is their affiliation?
-Does the author have some authority or special knowledge?
-Does the sites appear to be biased or have a special slant?
-Are the claims supported by balanced evidence? Are references given?
-does it attempt to support, not replace, a doctor-patient relationship?
-does it adhere to the HONcode principle (or similar code) for internet health information?
- when the sites were last updated
Then summarize what each site says about the product efficacy.
2) Use PubMed to find one good journal article (tertiary or primary, but must be published in the last 5 years) on the topic for human use and summarize it in one paragraph
3) compare the information from all 3 sites and from the journal article to determine which sources of information were most useful and why. Summarize and evaluate all the information found to reach a conclusion about the actual efficacy of the product. Your conclusion must finish with a strong recommendation about whether or not to use the product and why.