Evaluating Medical Resources
Ultimately,
assessing the quality of Internet content depends on the same factors that
readers of print publications depend on: authorship of the content, attribution
to the sources of content, disclosure of funding and competing interests, and
timeliness of the information presented. The growing popularity of the
Internet has made it easier and faster to find health information. Much of this
information is valuable; however, the Internet also allows rapid and widespread
distribution of unreliable, incomplete or misleading information. It is
important for non-professionals to carefully consider the source of information
and to discuss the information they find with their health care provider.
Evaluating
Health Information
From
MedlinePlus, a service of the National Institutes of Health and the U.S.
National Library of Medicine.
Health
Information Online
FDA Consumer Magazine
article.
Medical
Librarians Association Guide to the Web
A user's guide to finding
and evaluating health information on the web.
How to find
Medical Information
National Institute
of Arthritis and Muscoloskeletal and Skin Diseases
Quackwatch
Your Guide to Quackery,
Health Fraud, and Intelligent Decisions.
Internet Sites
Aids.org
American
Diabetes Association
The
nation's leading nonprofit health organization providing diabetes research,
information and advocacy.
American
Heart Association
The
American Heart Association is a national voluntary health agency whose mission
is to reduce disability and death from cardiovascular diseases and stroke.
American
Medical Association
A
link to the American Medical Association homepage.
BreastCancer.org
A
nonprofit organization dedicated to providing the most reliable, complete, and
up-to-date information about breast cancer.
Buying
Medicine Online
Sponsored by the US Food
and Drug Administration.
Cancer.gov
The official
Website for The National Cancer Institute (NCI), a component of the National
Institutes of Health (NIH), one of eight agencies that compose the Public Health
Service (PHS) in the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS). The NCI,
established under the National Cancer Act of 1937, is the Federal Government's
principal agency for cancer research and training. NCI coordinates the National
Cancer Program, which conducts and supports research, training, health
information dissemination, and other programs with respect to the cause,
diagnosis, prevention, and treatment of cancer, rehabilitation from cancer, and
the continuing care of cancer patients and the families of cancer patients.
Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention
An agency of the Department
of Health and Human Services, is dedicated to promoting "health and quality
of life by preventing and controlling disease, injury, and disability." Of
special interest to the consumer are the resources about diseases, conditions,
and other special topics arranged under "Health Topics A-Z," and
"Travelers' Health," with health recommendations for travelers
worldwide. There are also sections on health topics in the news and health
hoaxes. Travel
info
Combined
Health Information Database
CHID
is a bibliographic database produced by health-related agencies of the Federal
Government. This database provides titles, abstracts, and availability
information for health information and health education resources.
Drugs.com
Prescription Drug
information for consumers & professionals.
EMedicine
Comprises the largest and
most current Clinical Knowledge Base available to physicians and other
healthcare professionals.
Consumer Health site
Provides comprehensive first aid and
emergency information to prepare you for medical emergencies, injuries, minor
medical conditions and basic first aid. In addition, you will find health,
medical, lifestyle and wellness information for your entire family.
familydoctor.org
Operated by the American
Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP), a national medical organization
representing more than 93,700 family physicians, family practice residents and
medical students. All of the information on this site has been written and
reviewed by physicians and patient education professionals at the AAFP.
GEISWeb
Official web site of the U. S. Department of
Defense Global Emerging Infections Surveillance and Response System designed for
the prevention of and response to
infectious diseases threatening military personnel or present a risk to national
security.
Gulflink
Office of the Special
Assistant for Gulf War Illnesses.
Harvard
Medical School Inteliheath
Harvard Medical School's
consumer health information, journal databases, a medical dictionary, FAQ's on
latest news and live forums.
Hawaii
Medical Library: Tropical Medicine
Links
to medical dictionaries, national and
international medical schools and institutions.
Healthfinder®
A gateway consumer health
information Website whose goal is "to improve consumer access to selected
health information from government agencies, their many partner organizations,
and other reliable sources that serve the public interest." Menu lists on
its home page provide links to online journals, medical dictionaries, minority
health, and prevention and self-care. The developer and sponsor of this site is
the Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, Department of Health and
Human Services, with other agencies that also can be linked to via the site.
HIV
InSite
A project of the University
of California San Francisco (UCSF) AIDS Research Institute. Designed as a
gateway to in-depth information about particular aspects of HIV/AIDS, it
provides numerous links to many authoritative sources. Subjects are arranged
into "Key Topics" and the site may also be searched by key words. Many
items are provided in full text.
Johns
Hopkins Medical Desk Reference
This
alphabetical index is intended to help you find the information you are seeking
at Hopkins and its health system more easily, as well as point out other
potentially useful sites.
Kidshealth®
Provides
doctor-approved health information about children from before birth through
adolescence. Created by The Nemours Foundation's Center for Children's Health
Media, KidsHealth provides families with accurate, up-to-date, and jargon-free
health information they can use. KidsHealth has been on the Web since 1995—and
has been accessed by more than 170,000,000 visitors.
MayoClinic
An extension of the Mayo
Clinic's commitment to provide health education to patients and the general
public. Editors of the site include more than 2,000 physicians, scientists,
writers, and educators at the Mayo Clinic, a nonprofit institution with more
than 100 years of history in patient care, medical research, and education. The
Website has added interactive tools to assist consumers in managing their
health. This site supersedes the previous site, Mayo Clinic Health Oasis.
MDchoice
A
medicine and health portal.
Physician reviewed information.
Medem
A project of the leading
medical societies in the United States. Some of the founding societies include
the American Medical Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics, and the
American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. The site was developed to
provide "a trusted online source for credible, comprehensive, and clinical
healthcare information, and secure, confidential communications." The
"Medical Library" is divided into four major categories: Life Stages,
Diseases and Conditions, Therapies and Health Strategies, and Health and
Society.
Medical
NBC Online Information Server
(Nuclear Biological
Chemical) To provide a distributed learning and reference source for medical NBC
information. While the system is being developed for U.S. Army medical
personnel, the site will be available to any medical practitioner with access to
the Internet.
MedicineNet
This site contains
information on diseases and treatments, a link to drug information, a medical
dictionary and an "Ask the Experts" service.
MedlinePlus
A consumer-oriented Website
established by the National Library of Medicine, the world's largest biomedical
library and creator of the MEDLINE database. An alphabetical list of
"Health Topics" consists of more than 300 specific diseases,
conditions, and wellness issues. Each Health Topic page contains links to
authoritative information on that subject, as well as an optional link that
provides journal article citations on the subject. Additional resources include
physician and hospital directories, several online medical dictionaries, and
consumer drug information available by generic or brand name.
Encyclopedia This
Medical
Encyclopedia includes over 4,000 articles about diseases, tests, symptoms,
injuries, and surgeries. It also contains an extensive library of medical
photographs and illustrations.
Medscape
Although this site
is very technical, it provides a wealth of current information, including
medical headlines, a medical dictionary, and access to MedLine, ToxLine, and
AIDSLine.
MedTerms Medical Dictionary
From Medicne.Net.com
Merck
Source
Offers comprehensive
healthcare guides on top medical conditions.
National Cancer Institute
The
National Cancer Institute coordinates the National Cancer Program, which
conducts and supports research, training, health information dissemination, and
other programs with respect to the cause, diagnosis, prevention, and treatment
of cancer, rehabilitation from cancer, and the continuing care of cancer
patients and the families of cancer patients.
National
Foundation for Infectious Diseases
The National Foundation for Infectious
Diseases (NFID) is dedicated to educating the public and healthcare
professionals about the causes, treatment and prevention of infectious diseases.
National
Institutes of Health
The
National Institutes of Health (NIH), a part of the
U.S.
Department of Health and Human Services, is the primary Federal agency for
conducting and supporting medical research.
National
Libraries of Medicine's
"Easy to read health
and medical sites". The mission of the National Network of Libraries of
Medicine (NN/LM) is to advance the progress of medicine and improve the public
health by: 1) providing all U.S. health professionals with equal access to
biomedical information; and, 2) improving the public's access to information to
enable them to make informed decisions about their health.
Navy Department Library
Influenza of 1918 (Spanish
Flu) and the U.S. Navy
NOAH:
New York Online Access to Health
A unique collection of
state, local, and federal health resources for consumers. NOAH's mission is
"to provide high-quality, full-text information for consumers that is
accurate, timely, relevant, and unbiased." Information is arranged in
alphabetical "Health Topics" which are then narrowed to include
definitions, care and treatment, and lists of information resources. The
majority of items are provided in full text.
Near East South Asia Center for Strategic Studies
Pandemic
Flu
The official US government
website for information on pandemic flu and avian influenza.
Reuters
Health Information Service
A selection of current news
articles on health issues. There is also a link to MedLine on this site.
SARS
Reference
An overview of severe
acute respiratory syndrome (SARS).
State
Dept. Travel Information
Information for Americans
who intend to travel overseas.
Uniformed
Services University of Health Sciences
A
division of US military internal medicine with extensive listing of bioterrorism
links.
U.S.
Department of Defense Military Health Service
National
health support system for military operations and medical care.
WebMD
Offers access to health and
wellness news articles and features, and support services that help consumers
make better informed decisions about treatment options, health risks and
healthcare providers. Provides detailed information on a particular disease or
condition, analyze symptoms, locate physicians, store individual healthcare
information, receive periodic e-newsletters on topics of individual interest.
Womenshealth.gov
National
Women's Health Information Center.
The Federal Government Source for Women's Health Information.
On
Line Medical Dictionaries and Journals
World
Health Organization
The
UN's specialized agency for health.
Yahoo's list of Medicine
Resources
Yahoo's very
comprehensive list of links related to medical topics. This would be a good
place to start if you do not know exactly what you want to find.
[Return
to Top]
Ask A Doctor Services
Mayo
Clinic's Ask a Specialist
Ask
A Pharmacist
[Return
to Top]
|