HJBR Nov/Dec 2022

44 NOV / DEC 2022 I  HEALTHCARE JOURNAL OF BATON ROUGE NURSING COLUMN NURSING Generating Accurate Information During Crisis: THE SCOURGE OF Misinformation AND Disinformation Tara Sell, a senior scholar at the Cen- ter for Health Security has identified four types of false information: 1. Mischaracterization of the disease or protective measures that are needed. 2. False treatments or medical interven- tions. 3. Scapegoating of groups of people. 4. Conspiracy theories, often about the origin of the disease. 1 The Center has developed strategies to respond to health emergencies. These in- clude correcting erroneous content and calling out the sources that promulgate same; promoting the dissemination of factual information; increasing the pub- lic’s ability to resist the dissemination of mis- and disinformation; and coordinating a national response from the government, media, social platforms, and the “experts” we rely on to provide reliable information. 1 The following rules have been developed decisions. Driven by fear, uncertainty, am- biguous data, and an overwhelming sense of helplessness, disinformation drives rumors, innuendo, gossip, and reactions that are not helpful to the healthcare pro- fessions or to the public. 2 Thomas Rid, a professor at Johns Hopkins and an expert on international security and intelligence, approaches the discussion of disinforma- tion from the perspective of foreign coun- tries intentionally misleading the public concerning the origins of SARS-CoV-2 and its varied health effects. He notes that dis- information may not even be false infor- mation and often is not. A mixture of fact and forgery, it is intended to cause harm to the target. Relative to disinformation surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic, Rid notes that there is both generally inaccu- rate information and knowledge that has been questioned as better research and evidence emerge. 3 THE SARS-CoV-2 pandemic certainly wasn’t the first crisis leading to rampant erroneous health topics appearing in print and electronic media. However, the world- wide nature of this health crisis coupled with the sheer volume of media outlets to spread misleading information and propa- ganda has reinforced the need for credible sources of scientific information to protect the public’s health. Let’s start with definitions. Johns Hop- kins Bloomberg School of Public Health provides distinguishing criteria for the two terms. Misinformation is characterized as a much broader term relating to the dis- semination of false or inaccurate claims without the objective to harm or mislead. Disinformation is defined as a subset of misinformation created specifically to de- ceive.1 Disinformation is much more dan- gerous because it interferes with an indi- vidual or group’s ability to make reasoned In the age of 24-hour news coverage and increasing numbers of social media platforms, the amount of misinformation and disinformation is alarming.