Some information is most useful at particular times - for instance, patients who are not warned in advance to expect side effects of treatment may become very frightened by those side effects. However if side effect information is presented too early when patients are still dealing with other issues, they may not be able to absorb the information. Patients do not always remember what they have been told and they often want to review information many times. The time frame in which the patient is seeking information.
Patients can also review information from previous time frames.
One example is OncoLink, University of Pennsylvania Cancer Center Resource which offers extensive information about cancer. The site is well organised and offers excellent search facilities, but the sheer size of this site and the many different types of information that it contains make it potentially overwhelming. Readers may have difficulty deciding which pages are most relevant to them, and a lot of navigation is required to pick out all the information that would be relevant to any one reader at one time. References Fredette, Sheila L. A Model for Improving Cancer Patient Education. Cancer Nursing , Vol.