HealthLinks | Health Sciences Libraries | How-To

Life After the U

Now that you are leaving the University of Washington, you may have questions on how to access some of the health sciences resources that you have used while here at the University of Washington.

The resources on HealthLinks that are annotated with a lock icon Information About Access Restrictions are restricted by license agreements to current UW faculty, staff and students. This web page will suggest a variety of unrestricted websites to visit to find similar information. You may also want to consult the public libraries or the library at your place of employment for additional resources.

Services for Health Care Practitioners Licensed in Washington State: HEAL-WA

heal-wa.org
Selected groups of health care practitioners who are licensed to practice in Washington State now have access to a collection of online databases, electronic books and journals, and full-text articles through a new web site called HEAL-WA. HEAL-WA focuses on providing evidence-based information to a variety of clinical providers to support patient care. Please visit the HEAL-WA site for more information.

Services for UW Alumni

healthlinks.washington.edu/hsl/alumni.html
UW alumni may continue to use many of the library resources after graduation. See this website for information on Onsite Borrowing Privileges, Self-Service Photocopying, Quick Reference Assistance, Online Resources, and In-Depth Service and Article Retrieval.

National Network of Libraries of Medicine, Pacific Northwest Region (NN/LM PNR)

nnlm.gov/pnr
Phone: 206-543-8262, 800-338-7657 (within region)
Fax: 206-543-2469
Email: nnlm@u.washington.edu
NN/LM PNR is the service that coordinates and funds programs committed to meeting needs for quality health information via a network of libraries and organizations in the northwest. Located in the Regional Network Office at the Health Sciences Library, University of Washington, NN/LM PNR is run under contract with the National Library of Medicine. Its aim is to promote access to health information resources for health professionals and the public in Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, and Washington. NN/LM PNR staff will refer people to library and information services based on needs and situations, will fund educational activities about health information, and can provide training and consultation concerning online access to information resources, e.g. searching PubMed or MedlinePlus, and using health information resources on the Internet.

Database Searching

ClinicalTrials.gov

clinicaltrials.gov
A registry of federally and privately supported clinical trials conducted in the U.S. and around the world. Provides information about a trial's prupose, who may participate, location and phone numbers.

GeneTests

geneclinics.org

Provides current authoritative information on genetic testing and its use in the diagnosis, management, and counseling of individuals and families with inherited disorders. Includes GeneReviews, expert-authored disease reviews, international directories of genetic testing laboratories and genetics/prenatal diagnosis clinics, and educational materials.

Health and Wellness Resource Center

Access to health information, alternative medicine, drugs and herbal remedies in journals, newspapers, reference books such as the Gale Encyclopedia of Medicine. Available through the King County Library System and the Seattle Public Library with your library card number.

NLM Gateway

gateway.nlm.nih.gov/gw/Cmd
Allows searches in multiple National Library of Medicine databases, i.e., PubMed, MedlinePlus, OMIN, DIRLINE, TOXLINE, etc.

OMIM (Online Mendelian Inheritance in Man)

ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=OMIM
A database of human genes and genetic disorders; contains text, pictures and reference information.

ProQuest

Mostly full-text access to journal and newspaper articles. Available through the King County Library System and the Seattle Public Library with your library card number.

PubMed

pubmed.gov
Provides access to MEDLINE and other health-related databases, with links to participating online journals and other related databases and web resources.

TOXNET

toxnet.nlm.nih.gov
Databases on toxicology, hazardous chemicals, environmental health, and toxic releases, including:

Drug and Herbal Information

Dietary Supplements Labels Database

dietarysupplements.nlm.nih.gov
Provides information and ingredients for over 3,000 dietary supplements sold in the U.S.

Drugs.com

drugs.com
Information on over 24,000 prescription drugs, over-the-counter medications and natural products, including side effects and a drug interactions checker. Includes a Pill Identifier.

Drugstore.com

drugstore.com
Provides retail prices of drugs.

Epocrates Rx

www.epocrates.com/products/rx
Drug monographs for the most prescribed medicines for PDAs, iPhones, BlackBerry and Smartphones. Free download after registration.

FDA (Federal Drug Administration)

www.fda.gov/Drugs
Includes Drugs @ FDA, a catalog of FDA Approved Drug Products, Approved Drug Products with Therapeutic Equivalence Evaluations (Orange Book), National Drug Code Directory and more.

MedlinePlus: Drugs, Supplements, and Herbal Information

nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/druginformation.html
Information on thousands of prescription and over-the-counter medications, herbals, and supplements provided by AHFS Consumer Medication Information and the Natural Standard.

MerckMedicus

merckmedicus.com
Free registration for MDs and NPs. Includes the Physicians Desk Reference (PDR), PDR Drug Interactions, Facts & Comparisons, textbooks, patient handouts, and Mobile MerckMedicus.

PDR.net

pdr.net
Free access to the Physicians Desk Reference (PDR) database, drug interactions and to Drug Treatment Option Tools for MDs, NPs, PAs, DOs, and dentists in fulltime patient care practice, medical students, residents, and other select prescribing allied health professionals. Includes access to Clinical Xpert.

PillBot.com

pillbot.com
Prescription comparison shopping guide.

RxList: The Internet Drug Index

rxlist.com
Contains information on more than 5,000 U.S. brand and generic drug products, including the Top 200 list and a Pill Identification tool.

Evidence-Based Practice and Guidelines

TRIP Database

tripdatabase.com
Meta search engine of evidence sources and guidelines.

AHRQ Evidence Reports

ahrq.gov/clinic/epcix.htm

CMA Infobase

mdm.ca/cpgsnew/cpgs/index.asp
Canadian Medical Association clinical practice guidelines.

Database of Abstracts of Reviews of Effects (DARE), and NHS Economic Evaluation Database (NHS EED)

crd.york.ac.uk/crdweb

Evidence-Based On-Call

eboncall.org
Evidence summaries and recommendations.

HealthLinks: Evidence-Based Practice

healthlinks.washington.edu/ebp

HealthLinks: Immunizations

healthlinks.washington.edu/search.cfm?select=Healthlinks&q=immunizations&submit=Go

National Guideline Clearinghouse (NGC)

ngc.gov
A public resource for evidence-based clinical practice guidelines.

PubMed Clinical Queries using Research Methodology Filters

ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query/static/clinical.html

SumSearch

sumsearch.uthscsa.edu
Meta search engine of evidence resources.

US Preventive Services Task Force

ahrq.gov/clinic/uspstfix.htm
Evidence-based recommendations for clinical preventive services.

Health News/Current Awareness

CNN Health

cnn.com/HEALTH

Medscape

medscape.com
Comprehensive site organized by specialty featuring journal articles, practice guidelines, CE, treatment updates, news, conference summaries and patient resources. Free registration.

My NCBI for PubMed

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez
Free email alerting service that performs periodic searches for current information on PubMed.

New York Times Health

nytimes.com/pages/health

ProQuest

Mostly full-text access to journal and newspaper articles including the New York Times. Available through the King County Library System and the Seattle Public Library with your library card number.

USA Today Health

usatoday.com/news/health/front.htm

Washington State Newsstand

Newspaper coverage from Washington State newspapers, including The Seattle Times, and Tacoma News Tribune. Available through the King County Library System and the Seattle Public Library with your library card number.

Yahoo! News Health

news.yahoo.com/health

Journals (Free, Open Access, Full-text)

BioMed Central

biomedcentral.com
Independent publishing house providing immediate free access to peer-reviewed biomedical research. Publishes approximately 200 peer-reviewed open access journals, including BMC Public Health and BMC Nursing.

Free Medical Journals

freemedicaljournals.com

Highwire Press

highwire.stanford.edu
A Stanford University web site providing full-text access to over 1,245 highly cited, peer-reviewed journals, including scientific, medical, and social sciences information.

PLoS: Public Library of Science

plos.org
A nonprofit organization of scientists and physicians publishing open access peer-reviewed scientific and medical journals, such as PLoS Medicine, PLoS Biology, PLoS Genetics, etc.

PubMed Central

pubmedcentral.gov
The National Institue of Health's free and unrestricted digital archive of biomedical and life sciences journal literature. Can also search PubMed and limit to free full-text articles only.

Patient Education

MyHealth Toolkit

healthlinks.washington.edu/myhealth
University of Washington links to consumer health sources.

MedlinePlus: Health Information

medlineplus.gov
Best starting point for consumer health materials with links chosen and reviewed for quality by the National Library of Medicine.

MedlinePlus: Health Information in Multiple Languages

www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/languages/languages.html

Culture Clues

depts.washington.edu/pfes/CultureClues.htm
Tip sheet designed to increase awareness about concepts and preferences of patients from diverse cultures.

EthnoMed

ethnomed.org
A cross-cultural medicine database containing information about cultural beliefs and medical issues pertinent to healthcare of recent immigrants in the Northwest.

FamilyDoctor.org

familydoctor.org
Health information from the American Academy of Family Physicians.

Health and Wellness Resource Center

Bibliographic coverage of consumer health literature including full-text articles, pamphlets, and reference books.
Available through the King County Library System or the Seattle Public Library with your library card number.

HealthCentral.com

healthcentral.com

HealthFinder

healthfinder.gov
U.S. government gateway to consumer health information web sites, online publications, associations,government agencies, etc.

Household Products Database

hpd.nlm.nih.gov
Health and safety information on consumer household products.

InteliHealth

intelihealth.com
Harvard Medical School's consumer health information site.

KidsHealth

kidshealth.org
Wide range of health and parenting material, including reviews of toys and games.

Lab Tests Online

labtestsonline.org
News, descriptions of clinical lab tests, and information for consumers on understanding test results.

Medem

medem.com
Medical information for the public provided by leading medical societies.

NetWellness

netwellness.org

NIH Health Information

health.nih.gov
Consumer health information from the National Institutes of Health.

NOAH: New York Online Access to Health

noah-health.org
Includes English and Spanish high quality, full-text information for consumers.

NORD: National Organization for Rare Disorders

Abstracts of disease reports and information about patient organizations from NORD's Rare Disease Database. Available through the King County Library System with your library card number.

SPIRAL: Selected Patient Information Resources in Asian Languages

spiral.tufts.edu/about.shtml
Patient information by language (Cambodian Khmer, Chinese, Hmong, Japanese, Korean, Laotion Lao, Thai, Vietnamese) and topic.

Textbooks

In addition to these, look for textbooks without the lock icon (Lock icon) on the HealthLinks Textbooks page.

Oxford Reference Online

Dictionaries and subject reference works in a single cross-searchable resource. "Medicine" section includes dictionaries of Food & Nutrition, Medicine, Nursing, Psychology, Public Health, and Sports Science & Medicine. Also includes A-Z of Medicinal Drugs, and the Oxford Companion texts for Medicine and The Body. Available through the King County Library System or the Seattle Public Library with your library card number.

Dermatology Online Atlas

dermis.multimedica.de/dermisroot/en/home/index.htm

eMedicine.com

emedicine.com

Open access clinical textbook containing chapters on diseases and disorders, current practice guidelines, and evidence-based content.

Guide to Clinical Preventive Services

ahcpr.gov/clinic/cps3dix.htm

Harrison's Online (and other medical textbooks)

www.merckmedicus.com/pp/us/hcp/templates/tier2/clinicalRes.jsp
Online textbooks covering 20 specialties. Provided by MerckMedicus. Free to licensed healthcare professionals. Requires registration and state license number.

Merck Manual of Geriatrics

merck.com/pubs/mm_geriatrics

Merck Manual of Medical Information

merckhomeedition.com

UW Medicine Online Laboratory Test Guide

byblos.labmed.washington.edu/

Other Useful Resources

Clinical Calculators

healthlinks.washington.edu/search.cfm?select=Healthlinks&q=calculators&submit=Go

Communicable Disease & Immunizations: Public Health-Seattle & King County

metrokc.gov/health/portal/cd.htm

myPublichealth

myph.org

Decision-support tool for agencies to customize the collection, description, management and retrieval of critical public health information.

Public Health Digital Library

www.kingcounty.gov/healthservices/health/library.aspx
Links to public health websites, EBP public health information, guidelines, best practice resources, health articles databases, free ejournals. Public Health, Seattle and King County.

UW Family Medicine Residency Network PDA Resource Guide

fammed.washington.edu/resnet/media/2006-1_PDA_Resource_ECV.pdf

E. Chris Vincent, MD. Guide to clinical PDA software; PDA product reviews and comparisons.

Subscription Services

Sampling of subscription websites for health professionals.

DynaMed

http://www.ebscohost.com/dynamed/
Medical information database with nearly 3,000 clinical topic summaries: designed for use at point-of-care, providing best available evidence, and updated daily.

Essential Evidence Plus (formerly InfoPOEMs/InfoRetriever)

www.essentialevidenceplus.com/
POEMs, evidence summaries, tools, calculators and alerts for primary care clinicians.

MD Consult

home.mdconsult.com
Collection includes full-text journals, reference textbooks, health news, patient education handouts, and CME.

UpToDate

uptodate.com
Concise comprehensive reviews of clinical topics in multiple specialties.

Created August 9, 2000
Updated May, 2009

Janet G. Schnall, MS, AHIP
Information Management Librarian

Library Liaison to the University of Washington School of Nursing, Department of Pediatrics, Department of Ophthalmology and Multicultural Affairs
schnall@u.washington.edu
healthlinks.washington.edu/hsl/liaisons/schnall

Sarah Safranek, MLIS
Information Management Librarian

Library Liaison to the University of Washington School of Public Health, Department of Family Medicine, MEDEX Program, Hall Health and WWAMI
safranek@u.washington.edu
healthlinks.washington.edu/hsl/liaisons/safranek