Investigating the reliability of substance toxicity information found on the Internet in pediatric poisonings.

Objectives: The Internet may be the first source of information used by parents during a suspected poisoning of their children. Our primary aim was to assess the reliability of the Internet as a resource for information for parents to initially manage a suspected poisoning involving their child without outside consultation.

Methods: We distributed a self-administered survey to English-speaking parents to evaluate their Internet access behaviors so we could emulate their search strategies for a poisoning.