Living due to the immense autonomy of online

Living in an emerging era of globalization, the creation of online databases has altered the use of academic health resources as more users access online media rather than printed resources (De Groote, Shultz and Blecic, 2014). Having the convenience of obtaining information by a click of button, online resources became the preferred medium of the public. However, due to the immense autonomy of online media, credibility of these resources becomes highly questionable.  In this critical analysis, an online article titled as “ Post-operative pain after thoracic surgery” written by K.

Eckland is reviewed. Although the author provided a well written article on how to manage pain after surgery, adjustments could be done to further allow the readers to thoroughly understand the information.            Post operative pain continues to be undermanaged despite the utilization of advanced techniques and multimodal analgesics (Yin, Tse and Wong, 2012). With this in mind, the purpose of the article is to inform and guide effective pain management to post-thoracic surgery patients. The author, K. Eckland is an American cardiothoracic nurse practitioner and an author of several nursing books that mainly focuses on surgical tourism. Emphasizing on the heavy reliance of netizens on “ industry supported websites”, K. Eckland uses the internet as a platform to educate and connect with the public.

Studies have shown that that information displayed on a website is a critical faction that affects cognition and inter users need ways to reduce large amount of information to select information that they want (Hsieh, Lo, Hu, & Chang, 2014). Therefore, public being her targeted audience, the author strives to make her article helpful through incorporating headers for each section, succinctly delivering information and including visual aids.               Conversely, there were several areas to be improved in the article such the lack of incorporation of complications parallel to the specific surgeries that were included. Knowing other sources of pain allows the readers to have a piece of mind and may lessen the pain. According to a study done by Yin, Tse and Wong (2012), pain originates from the neuromatrix of the brain rather than a direct implication of an injury. Therefore, the inclusion of complication may benefit the audience through relieving anxiety by knowing other possible sources of their pain. Another area of improvement is the readability level of the article.

The content of the article was appraised to be in grade 11 proficiency level. With this in mind, the recommended the grade level of media is around grade 6-8. Perhaps strategies such decreasing the use of medical jargon, increasing the use simpler words and shorten some of the sentences to ensures the public to fully comprehend the information given (Sand-Jecklin, 2007). Health education materials play an important role in the health care system, therefore they must be written written at a level that is appropriate to the average reader (Singh 2003).

In conclusion, although the article written by K. Erckland discusses and conveys helpful tips to public, several alterations could be done to further enhance the utility of the article. As examined in this critical analysis, changes such as including complication and lowering the grade level reading proficiency would greatly enhance usability of the article.