Now that you know how to utilize and evaluate Wikipedia articles, you may find yourself more aware of problems when you come across them. You might notice information that isn't cited, articles that are underdeveloped, references that don't meet the MEDRS standards, or even factual errors. Next, you'll learn how to fix those problems when you see them in order to improve the health information that thousands of people access daily. But why should you bother?
The encyclopedia and its readers benefit when you fix errors, add & improve content, and add valid citations. Your work may even help to diversify Wikipedia's editor base. This all results in higher quality information reaching providers, patients, and the general public when they use Wikipedia.
You can also learn a lot from editing! You will learn more about a topic of interest by reaching it and finding quality references to add to a Wikipedia article, as well as learning from the information that's already in the article. You can solidify information you've learned. You can practice finding and evaluating health information resources at various levels. You can practice communicating information effectively to a broad audience in a simple written format. You can also gain confidence in contributing to the wider biomedical knowledge base.