Examining the role of the internet in SIDS management and its emergence as a domain of uncertainty

The availability of quality medical information is a central issue in the management of healthcare technology. Within this function there are emerging 'domains of uncertainty' or areas of healthcare wherein either diagnosis and/or treatment are somewhat disputed within a given community of practice. This study sought to demonstrate an integrated approach to evaluating the quality of medical information available on the internet for the little-understood domain of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS). Information was derived from web sites and search engines returned as the highest priority results from search engine queries. Results were examined from a management perspective, with implications addressed for the growing field of web-based healthcare.