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Beyond an Apple a Day: Steps for Finding Health Information on the Web

Janet G. Schnall, MS, AHIP
schnall@u.washington.edu
http://healthlinks.washington.edu/hsl/liaisons/schnall/

Step 1: Start with MedlinePlus, the best consumer source for medical information.

medlineplus.gov

Step 2: Try other top rated consumer heath websites.

  1. Medical Library Association Top 10 Most Useful Consumer Health Websites
    mlanet.org/resources/medspeak/topten.html
    1. Cancer.gov www.cancer.gov
    2. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) A-Z Topics www.cdc.gov/az.do
    3. familydoctor.org www.familydoctor.org
    4. healthfinder® healthfinder.gov
    5. HIV InSite hivinsite.ucsf.edu
    6. Kidshealth® www.kidshealth.org
    7. Mayo Clinic www.mayoclinic.com
    8. MEDEM: an information partnership of medical societies www.medem.com
    9. MedlinePlus (English | Spanish) medlineplus.gov
    10. NOAH: New York Online Access to Health www.noah-health.org
  2. Additional good websites
    1. MyHealth Toolkit healthlinks.washington.edu/myhealth
    2. Senior Health nihseniorhealth.gov
    3. National Library of Medicine’s DIRLINE dirline.nlm.nih.gov
    4. Tox Town for Environmental health information toxtown.nlm.nih.gov
    5. Lab Tests Online www.labtestsonline.org
    6. Merriam-Webster Medical Dictionary www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/mplusdictionary.html
  3. Drug information for consumers
    1. MedlinePlus Drug and Herbal Information www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/druginformation.html
    2. Drugs.com www.drugs.com
    3. PillBot.com www.pillbot.com
    4. RxList www.rxlist.com

Step 3: Use e-textbooks or similar web resources.

  1. Merck Manual of Medical Information www.merckhomeedition.com
  2. Merck Manual of Geriatrics www.merck.com/mrkshared/mmg/home.jsp
  3. Web MD www.webmd.com
  4. eMedicine www.emedicine.com
  5. Health and Wellness Resource Center
    Access to health information in journals, newspapers, the Gale Encyclopedia of Medicine and the Alternative Health Encyclopedia. Available through the King County Library System and the Seattle Public Library with your library card number.

Step 4: Search PubMed to find more technical journal articles.

  1. PubMed pubmed.gov
  2. PubMed at the UW (how to use PubMed) healthlinks.washington.edu/howto/pubmed
  3. Free journal websites
    1. Biomed Central www.biomedcentral.com
    2. Free Medical Journals www.freemedicaljournals.com
    3. Highwire Press highwire.stanford.edu
    4. PubMed Central pubmedcentral.gov

Step 5: Evaluating Health Information on the Web

  1. Criteria for Evaluating Websites healthlinks.washington.edu/howto/navigating/criteria.pdf
  2. MedlinePlus Guide to Healthy Web Surfing www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/healthywebsurfing.html
  3. MedlinePlus Evaluating Health Information www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/evaluatinghealthinformation.html
  4. A User's Guide to Finding and Evaluating Health Information on the Web www.mlanet.org/resources/userguide.html

The resources mentioned in this presentation may be found:

Polyclinic Patient Education
October 28, 2006