Why the American Journal of Patient Health Info?

Amit Khanal^a, Bibhusan Basnet^b

^a Department of Internal Medicine, Wake Forest School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, NC, USA

^b Department of Hospital Medicine, Frye Regional Medical Center, Hickory, NC, USA

Background

With more than 3000 medical journals worldwide, health information is easy to access and spread like never before. Many websites have comprehensive information to supplement physician knowledge and assist in clinical practice. Despite thousands of websites and journals, health information is still hard to get due to doctors and nurses' complex medical concepts and never-ending medical jargon. Will patients and families understand them? Are all their resources credible?

In 2019, alongside Dr. Basnet, I conducted a study to analyze YouTube videos on prostate cancer screening on medical topics. To our surprise, much of the information was incorrect and lacked assurance of its validity even when it was correct. We often face simple yet crucial questions from our friends and families, such as “When can I stop my thyroid medication?” or more intriguing and popular queries needing evidence like: Does garlic help with cancer?”. Although it is not difficult to find information on these topics in this modern era of internet and artificial intelligence, finding accurate and trustworthy information is the most challenging task. Not all information is correct, and even when correctly cited from a source, it often lacks up-to-date information.

This is why we launched The American Journal of Patient Health Info (AJPHI), a peer-reviewed journal for patients and families to fill that information gap. The article in our journal covers everyday health topics to provide unbiased information that, as doctors, we would give our patients. We use simple language, images, and videos to present our medical information in a way that anyone can easily understand. The journal and its format are curated to make navigating and comprehending the information easy, even for those without extensive medical knowledge.

We are committed to bringing you accurate medical information, explained in simple words and with lots of care. To our many prospective readers, we proudly present AJPHI, the journal made just for you.