Consumer Health
Here are pointers to some of the more useful consumer health resources available on the Internet. From here you can gain access to information about a wide variety of diseases and conditions, treatments, drugs, and nutrition. Selection was based on ease of use, comprehensiveness, and reliability of the information.
Table of Contents
Gateways to Resources
Pamphlets and Educational Resources
General
Specific
Directories
Special Topics
Diversions
Gateways to Resources
MEDLINEplus Consumer health site of the National Library of Medicine.
NLM Gateway lets users search simultaneously in multiple retrieval systems at the U.S. National Library of Medicine (NLM). It provides "one-stop searching" for many of NLM's information resources or databases.
Healthfinder A U. S. Government consumer health information web site.
Alternative Medicine HomePage University of Pittsburgh, Falk Library of the Health Sciences. A thorough treatment of the subject.
OncoLink The University of Pennsylvania Cancer Center Resource. A comprehensive gateway to cancer information
MayoClinic.com Comprehensive coverage of consumer health concerns from a respected health provider.
Medem's Medical Library Information provided by leading medical societies.
Pamphlets and Educational Information
General
AMA Health Information Contains information about current medical news, specific conditions, pediatric and women's health, and general health. The general health section contains information about blood tests, travel, physical fitness and nutrition, and more. Uses medical reviewers for all medical content.
Healthtouch online Brings together leaflet-type information from a variety of governmental and support organizations. Not comprehensive but useful. Includes a searchable drug database.
NOAH New York Online Access to Health In Spanish and English, links to the latest health information and resources from volunteer and local governmental agencies, and from other health sites on the Internet.
Consumer Health Information from the New York State Department of Health A collection of general reading materials on a variety of health-related subjects.
Health Services/Technology Assessment Text National Library of Medicine Agency for Health Care Policy Research.Treatment guidelines with some information directed at consumers. Topics include: pain management, urinary incontinence, sickle cell disease, heart failure, smoking cessation, in addition to more technical reports on other conditions.
Med Help International Patient information/education. Select "Our Medical Libraries" for an index to disease or condition information.
Food and Drug Administration Center for Food Safety & Applied Nutrition Includes information about food, food additives, cosmetics, food labeling, pesticides, contaminants, consumer advice and materials for educaton.
Cancer.gov National cancer institute. Includes extensive information about cancer for patients from basic information to treatments for specific cancers as well as information about clinical trials.
National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism This site allows access to information about the effects of alcohol and alcohol abuse. Full text of some of the publications of this agency.
National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases Extensive patient information about diabetes, digestive diseases, endocrine disorders, hematologic disease, kidney disorders, nutrition and obesity, and urologic disorders.
National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) Information about cardiac and pulmonary disorders, blood diseases, and sleep disorders.
American Psychiatric Association Select "Public Information" for consumer resources in the form of pamphlets and fact sheets.
Directories
Physicians
ABMS Certified Doctor Home Page American Board of Medical Specialties Verification Service allows you to verify board certification status of any board certified physician.
AMA Physician Select: Online Doctor Finder Provides basic professional information on virtually every licensed physician in the United States and its possessions.
NYS Office of Professional Misconduct and Physician Discipline Responsible for investigating complaints about physicians, physician assistants and specialist assistants. The Office also monitors practitioners who have been placed on probation. Searchable by physician's name or browseable.
Hospitals
HospitalWeb Directory of hospital web pages, local hospitals included. Coverage is world-wide.
American Hospital Directory Contains comparative hospital data, statistics, and information.
U.S. News and World Report Best Hospitals Finder Ranking of America's best hospitals.
Special Topics
Health and Medicine in the News This service gathers citations to research articles mentioned in the popular press.
CDC Travel Information From Centers for Disease Control. Vaccines, food and water precautions, recommendations by country, disease outbreaks, and more.
Health Hippo In spite of the strange name, a serious collection of policy and regulatory materials related to health care.
Quackwatch A member of Consumer Federation of America, is a nonprofit corporation whose purpose is to combat health-related frauds, myths, fads, and fallacies.
Diversions
The Longevity game An interactive lifestyle and health awareness quiz. Click on calculators, then scroll down to the game.
Drive through diet If you are curious about the calories and fat content of fast foods, try this one.
ExRx.net: Calories Expended How to burn those calories.
Interactive health tutorials Using animated graphics each tutorial explains a procedure or condition in easy-to-read language.