Most health care providers hate Dr. Google. People show up in our offices every week saying that they know they shouldn’t have consulted Dr. Google but they did and now they are worried about something. Dr. Google is notoriously poor at helping people access quality information. Quality information is out there. But Dr. Google can’t tell what is good and what isn’t. And often neither can you. Here’s how to find good pregnancy and birth related health information online.
Enter the OMama Project. Just like any good mama, OMama’s job is to steer you in the right direction as you navigate your childbearing year. The OMama Project is a website and an App that was created to deliver quality, peer-reviewed information directly to your smart phone or computer screen.
Sponsored by government funding, the fine folks at BORN Ontario went to a lot of trouble to make sure they got this right for you. First, they researched which topics are most commonly of interest to people during the childbearing year and how important each of those topics are to you. Then they used google (and many other tools, I’m sure) to do what google does best – sift through the internet and give you a list of websites dealing with that topic.
But here is the beauty and the brilliance, they reviewed all of that bounty for accurate answers to your questions. Then they had midwives, nurses, and doctors review every megabyte of data to ensure that the information was of high quality. What they found is that most of the information that people are finding online is not of high quality. And they also found that for many, many topics, high quality information just doesn’t exist on websites designed for the general public. But, you can be confident that if it is available and it ends up on OMama, that you can trust it.
There are limits, of course. No source of information is going to be tailored to you personally. And some of the information that is there might not be what your particular care provider would recommend. But all of the information is worthy of consideration.
Check out the partners. If you are getting information that has been reviewed by folks from the Society of Obstetricians & Gynaecologists of Canada, Best Start, Association of Ontario Midwives, Provincial Council for Maternal & Child Health, Ontario Public Health Associations and the Ontario College of Family Physicians, you know you are onto something good!
How does it work? You can download the App or visit the website. Once there, OMama will collect a bit of information about you and then deliver topics of interest. Or you can browse around or search for a particular topic. It is super easy and very user friendly.
I’m telling all of my clients to fire Dr. Google and hire OMama. You should too. It is about time.
Genia Stephen is a registered midwife and lactation consultant with Generations Midwifery Care. You can read more about her here.