Health
and Medicine
Comprehensive
Resources | Alternative
Medicine | Cancer
Clinical
Trials | Drugs | Consumer/Self
Help Groups | Professional
Associations
Medical
Literature/Databases | Electronic
Publications | Local
Health Information
Searching
the Web | Evaluating
Web Sites | Resources
for Librarians
Before you start Resources
for Health Consumers
The Medical Library Association provides
a collection of resources including:
|
Some Caveats
When looking for health
information, beware of sites with:
- No credentials; you
want to know who is providing the information.
- No mailing address or
phone number, especially if you plan to make a purchase.
- No contact information
at all!
Be careful also of sites that:
- Tout awards or ratings.
Check the source of the award or rating and the criteria that
was used.
- Rely on testimonials,
"a study," or "a government report." References to studies
should be backed up with a complete citation to the source.
- Have no privacy policy.
This is something you want to read carefully if you are asked
to enter any personal information.
For some questions to ask yourself
when looking for health information on the web, check Evaluation
Criteria: What to Look for in a Web Site (Reuben L. Sharp
Health Science Library, The Cooper Health System.) |
Comprehensive
Health Sites
General
Hardin
Meta Directory of Internet Health Sources
Lists arranged by topic and by size.
Sites are not annotated, but the sources are listed unless obvious from
the title.
Martindale's
Health Science Guide
A vast resource - whatever you are
looking for is probably here. Very long pages and not easy to
navigate.
Medscape
Primarily aimed at health professionals,
Medscape is built around practice-oriented content. Each Specialty Site
gathers, filters, and posts updated content from tens of thousands of
medical journal articles, state-of-the-art surveys in disease management
authored by experts, Next-Day Summaries from major medical meetings,
and more. Free, one time registration is required. CBS HealthWatch is
Medscape’s partner site for consumers.
For Consumers
drkoop.com
Under the auspices of the revered
former Surgeon General, this is one of the Web's most popular comprehensive
consumer health sites. Reliable information in a variety of formats.
HealthCentral
Dr. Dean Edell is the star of this
site with enhanced coverage of all his daily on-air and TV stories.
Notable for its organization and for its inclusion of a medical librarian
as a news columnist/discussion leader.
HealthWeb:
Consumer Health
Nice, neat directory site from the
well-regarded HealthWeb
Project, a cooperative effort of libraries from Big Ten universities
and the University of Chicago. All sites have been quality-filtered
by librarians. Check the "User Guides" for "Links to Medline", "Evaluating
Internet Resources", "Searching the Internet", and "Document Delivery."
Medem
Medical Library
Information from seven medical societies
broken into four categories: Life Stages, Diseases and Conditions, Therapies
and Health Strategies, and Health and Society. A complexity indicator,
ranging from introductory to professional/research, is provided for
each article.
The
Merck Manual of Medical Information - Home Edition
The electronic edition of the respected
medical handbook from Merk & Co. is available in text-based and
interactive versions. You can search or browse in both.
The interactive multimedia version contains photos, animations, videos,
audio pronunciations, illustrations, and more!
NOAH:
New York Online Access to Health Home Page
Joint venture of four authoritative
institutions in the fields of both information and medicine. Comprehensive
coverage of Health Topics with links to full-text sources. "What's
New" section is a current list of what topics have been updated and
when. One of the first sites to offer health info in Spanish.
seekwellness
Formerly WellnessWeb, this unique
site is maintained by a cross-section of patients and healthcare/information
people. Solid, peer-reviewed info. Access the Conventional
Medicine Section through a master index or through one of the topic
specific centers. Alternative/Complimentary Medicine Section has
an index of diseases, conditions & treatments.
Virtual
Pediatric Hospital
This is a digital health science
library started in 1992 at the University of Iowa. Reliable, understandable
information on common problems of children for health care providers
and patients. A mixture of original content in the and links to
outside sources.
WebMD
Formerly Medscape Health, this site
includes articles, reference sources like databases, the Health Plan
Report Card, and a collection of health tools. There is even a
mini medical school!
Web
Sites You Can Trust
Top 100 sites selected by health
science librarians from the Consumer and Patient Health Information
Section (CAPHIS) of the Medical Library Association.
U.S .Government
USA.gov
- Health and Nutrition
Lots of health information from the
federal government. The site is searchable.
healthfinder®
(U.S. Department of Health & Human Services)
"Hot Topics" leads to selected web
sites and organizations. "Smart Choices" contains information
on making healthcare choices. "More Tools" contains links to libraries,
medical dictionaries, online journals etc. "Just For You" has
resources grouped by age and ethnicity. Searchable from any page.
MEDLINEplus
(National Library of Medicine)
Find information on many health topics
and diseases by searching the site or browsing alphabetical or category
lists. Links to: medical dictionaries/glossaries, lists of medical
dictionaries, clearinghouses, major associations, databases, and consumer
health libraries.
NIH
Health Information (National Institutes of Health)
Clinical Trials database and detailed
information about clinical trials. Includes full-text consumer
health publications. Combined Health Information Database (CHID)
of health promotion & education materials not indexed elsewhere.
Special Programs section has a link to the Office of Rare Diseases with
information on 6000 rare diseases.
U.S.
Food and Drug Administration
Covers food safety & nutrition,
human & animal drugs, biological products, cosmetics, medical devices,
exposure to radiation, regulations regarding children & tobacco
plus more. Consumer Section includes an index of the FDA Consumer
magazine with some links to full-text articles & section on newly
approved drugs. Patient Section contains a link to the Office
of Special Health Issues for info on FDA activities related to HIV/AIDS,
Cancer and other special health issues.
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Alternative Medicine
The
Alternative Medicine Home Page
Begin your search for alternative
health information here to avoid falling into the bottomless pit of
ads and "questionable" data on this topic. Created by a librarian,
this page links to the Indexes, Guides & Directories of health supersites.
Useful and interesting linkss.
National
Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM)
NCCAM conducts research and disseminates
information to practitioners and the public. Links to Information Resources
include the CAM Citation Index, including 180,000+ citations.
NIH
Office of Dietary Supplements IBIDS Database (Office of Dietary
Supplements, National Institutes of Health)
The International Bibliographic Information
on Dietary Supplements (IBIDS) is a database of published, international,
scientific literature on dietary supplements, including vitamins, minerals,
and botanicals. IBIDS is an effort to assist the public, health care
providers, educators, and researchers in locating credible, scientific
information on dietary supplements.
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Cancer Information
American
Cancer Society
One of the Big Three (with Cancernet
and Oncolink) huge, authoritative oncology sites. Full-text info on
specific cancers is easily found either though the search feature or
the quick index. Included are statistics, risk factors, diagnosis and
staging, what patients should ask their doctors, new research as well
as additional readings and references. Selective list of
links to other cancer info sites included.
cancer.gov
(National Cancer Institute )
Great for patients and families is
the PDQ database of peer-reviewed and frequently updated statements
summarizing facts on diagnosis, staging, treatment and prognosis for
most types of cancer. Clinical trials info and links.
Lung
Cancer Online
Librarian and cancer survivor Karen
Parles maintains this site which “widely acknowledged as the definitive
consumer site for lung cancer.”(BMJ 2000;321:1129-1132). Very
up-to-date and user friendly.
OncoLink:
(University of Pennsylvania Cancer Center)
The first multimedia oncology
resource on the Internet and still one of the best. Don't search for
cancer info on the web without visiting Oncolink. Reliable, understandable
and frequently updated information on every aspect of cancer.
Steve
Dunn’s CancerGuide
This comprehensive site for learning
about cancer is an excellent place to begin. Cancer survivor Steve Dunn
helps users to find answers but, even more importantly, helps “you find
the questions you need to ask.” Lots of original content and good links.
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Clinical Trials
ClinicalTrials.gov
(National Library of Medicine)
Comprehensive information on clinical
trials. The database can be searched by disease or condition,
geographic location, age, funding source, and more.
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Drug Information
Drug
Resource Center (InteliHealth)
Comprehensive drug info site including
FDA New Drug Approvals, FDA Actions, Drug News and Disease Specific
information centers.
RxList
- The Internet Drug Index
Managed by Neil Sandow, Pharm.D.,
this site is loaded with general drug information on over 4000 drug
products. Notable for its "Top 200" feature providing info on the 200
products that represent 2/3 of all prescriptions filled in the U.S.
Reliable information and links.
Also see the USP DI in the Access
Pennsylvania Power Library.
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Consumer/Self
Help Groups
| Consumer/self-help and condition-specific
organizations often provide valuable information via the web or
by mail or phone. Some of these are listed below, and many
others can be found by searching
the web or by checking some of the comprehensive
health sites below. |
American
Diabetes Association
"Diabetes Info" provides lengthy
full-text information on everything related to diabetes. Selected
full-text articles from Diabetes Forecast as well as 5 other professional
journals published by the American Diabetes Association. Links
to categorized and reviewedInternet Resources.
American
Heart Association
Information on the heart, heart disease
and stroke available in 1-3 page easy to read fact sheets or follow
the links for richer coverage of each topic. Some fact sheets
have good graphical illustrations. Science and Professional section
includes AHA medical and scientific statements (including some guidelines).
Comprehensive listing of current statistics. Links to the new
AHA web site, "Living with Heart Failure," a great resource for patients
and caregivers.
American
Liver Foundation
Authoritative reports on all aspects
of the liver and its diseases. "Liver Links" is a comprehensive
listing of resources for liver information. Personal narratives
from liver disease patients. Advocacy section contains links to
the foundation's statements and agendas. News section is up to
date with a link to the full-text publication, "Chronic Hepatitis C:
Current Disease Management from the NIH/NIDDK, November 1999.
Family
Village
Comprehensive coverage of disability
resources. Full-text info on specific diagnoses or general disability
related topics. Links to associations, chat groups, online journals,
newsletters & magazines. Full-text articles from Exceptional
Parent Magazine, Special Child Magazine and more.
National
Organization for Rare Disorders
Synonyms, a general overview, and
directory information on organizations related to each included disorder.
Complete disease reports from the Rare Disease Database are available
for a fee, but the Organizational and Orphan Drug databases are free.
Don't be deceived by the term "rare." Several well-known diseases
are included.
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Professional
Associations
| Professional associations
are often an excellent source of information. A sampling
of these organizations is provided below. For a larger selection,
visit MedWeb
and search for "associations". |
American
Academy of Family Physicians
Patient Information contains: 200
patient information handouts (searchable & categorized) and 22 flowcharts
for self-diagnosis and self-care. Health Education Program lists
links to pamphlets which can be purchased & a listing of reviewed
health education materials.
American
Academy of Pediatrics
Full-text of AAP public education
brochures. AAP policy statements (searchable & browsable).
Best of the Pediatric Internet links to resources reviewed by AAP fellows.
Advocacy sections links to the Kids Count data book.
The
American Dietetic Association
Nutrition Resources include full-text
Nutrition Fact Sheets by category, excerpts from The Complete Food &
Nutrition Guide and Dieting for Dummies, Bibliographies, Position papers,
New USDA Food Guide Pyramid for young children. Searchable from
any page in the site.
American
Medical Association - JAMA Collections
The Journal of the American Medical
Association maintains this series of easy-to-use, peer-reviewed collections
of resources on specific conditions. Sites are produced by JAMA editors
under the direction of a medical editor and expert editorial review
panels. There is a charge for access to much of the material, but the
JAMA Patient Pages
are freely available.
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Search the
Medical Literature and Other Databases
MEDLINEplus:
Databases
Links to databases at the NIH and
other government agencies, as well as other sources.
NLM
Gateway (National Library of Medicine)
Searches MEDLINE (PubMed), OLDMEDLINE,
LOCATORplus, AIDS Meetings, HSRProj, and MEDLINEplus.
PubMed
PubMed provides access to over 11
million citations to the medical literature from the MEDLINE database
and more. There is extensive help for using the database.
For quick guides see PubMed
Essentials.There is more help available from the
National
Network of Libraries of Medicine (NN/LM).
CANCERLIT
(National Cancer Institute)
Over "1.5 million
citations and abstracts from over 4,000 different sources including
biomedical journals, proceedings, books, reports, and doctoral theses."
This is now part of PubMed.
Catalog
of U.S. Government Publications
Search for health-related government
documents, many of which can be found in Federal Depository Libraries.
Lehigh University has a
depository library.
The
Combined Health Information Database (CHID)
CHID formerly provided information
that was not indexed elsewhere. The database has been discontinued,
but the web site directs you to a number of databases and websites.
ERIC
(National Library of Education, Educational Resources Information Center)
An index to documents and journals
articles in the general field of education. Includes health-related
information.
Genetic
Home Reference
This National Library of Medicine resource provides information on genetic
conditions for the consumer.
GPO
Access
The U.S. Government Printing Office
provides access to many federal databases. You may want to go
to the database list and "search across multiple databases" to find
health information where you least expect it!
Online
Mendelian Inheritance in Man (OMIM) (National Center for Biotechnology
Information)
Includes information and bibliographic
references on inherited diseases. Much of the information is highly
technical.
PDQ
(NCI's Comprehensive Cancer Database)
Information for the patient ant the
health provider. Includes prevention, treatment, screening, support,
genetics, and clinical trials.
TOXNET
A collection of databases covering
toxic and hazardous substances.
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Electronic
Publications
eJournals
Free
Medical Journals.com
Shows impact factors for some titles,
highlights new and no longer free titles, and offers an alerting service.
HighWire
Press - Free Online Full-text Articles
For each listed journal, indicates
when back issues become free, when any free trial period ends, or if
all article are free.
PubMed
Central
Free full-text
of biomedical journals linked from PubMed citations.
eBooks
Medical Terms
Glossary
of Genetic Terms
The
On-line Medical Dictionary
For Medical Professionals
The
Merck Manual of Diagnosis and Therapy, 17th Edition
eMedicine
NCBI
Bookshelf
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Sources
of Local Health Information
Directories
AMA
Physician Select
Search for physicians by name or
specialty. You can specify state, city, or zip code.
Health
Pages: Search Pennsylvania Physicians
Search for a physician by name or
specialty. Some entries include physician-supplied background
information.
Who's
Certified (American Board of Medical Specialties)
This is not a local directory and
is searchable only by name. Once you have located a physician
in a local directory, you can check his/her specialty certification.
[Registration is required.]
The
American Hospital Directory
Searchable directory with some free
statistical data. Not all figures are available for each hospital.
Yahoo!
Yellow Pages - Health and Medicine - Nazareth, PA
Directory of a variety of health
providers and services. Includes links to web sites, if available.
Yahoo!
Regional > Northampton County > Health
Directory of health-related web sites
relating to Northampton County.
Government Resources
PA
PowerPort
A doorway to Pennsylvania informaton.
The site is searchable.
Pennsylvania
Department of Health
Information from the department on
a variety of health topics, including diseases, nursing homes, drug
and alcohol prevention and treatment, and much more. There are
directories of phone numbers for key contacts and for local health offices.
Pennsylvania
Health Care Cost Containment Council, (PHCCCC)
This site provides performance and
financial reports on hospitals and HMOs, information on buying a health
plan, issue briefs on several topics, and lots of statistics.
Health
Sources (Pennsylvania State Library)
Links to several health sites selected
by the State Library.
Northampton
County OnLine
Information from the Department of
Human Services, the County Coroner's Office, and the Division of Emergency
Management.
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Return
to The Memorial
Library of Nazareth & Vicinity
Updated
February 26, 2010
Comments to twin-prime@hotmail.com
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