HEALTH AND MEDICAL RESOURCES

General Information

• Consumer and Patient Health Information (CAPHIS) - "Web sites you can trust" as chosen by CAPHIS, which is part of the Medical Library Association. Categories include men's health, women's health, senior sites, parenting and children, and drug info.
  
  
• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention - The CDC serves as the national focus for developing and applying disease prevention and control for the U.S. Here you can find data and statistics, fact sheets on various health topics, travelers information and recent health news.
  
  
• Doctors Guide to the Internet - Provides news and other information aimed at the professional. Includes a guide to medical resources on the Web.
  
  
• Hardin Meta Directory of Internet Health Resources - The Hardin Library for the Health Sciences at the University of Iowa provides a large index to health sites.
  
  
• Health and Age - Information on medicine and healthy living for seniors provided by the Novartis Foundation for Gerontology. Includes general health news, a disease digest, an "ask the doctor" feature and a drug database. Also links to an area designed for health professionals.
  
  
• HealthAtoZ - A site geared for families than not only provides medical information but also articles to help you maintain a healthy lifestyle. Articles are fairly detailed yet still easy to read.
  
  
• Healthfinder - U.S. Department of Health and Human Services site provides a gateway to online health information. An excellent source for basic information on diseases and health problems, and links to more detailed resources.
  
  
• HealthWeb - Provides links to specific, evaluated information resources on the World-Wide Web selected by librarians and information professionals at leading academic medical centers in the Midwest. Selection emphasizes quality information aimed at assisting health care professionals as well as consumers in meeting their health information needs.
  
  
• InteliHealth - General health information. Includes a drug database and a Merriam-Webster Medical Dictionary. InteliHealth is a subsidiary of Aetna U.S. Healthcare.
  
  
• KidsHealth for Parents - Provides easy access to health information pertaining to children. Subjects covered by articles include general health, infections, emotions and behaviour, medical problems and first aid. Related articles and additional resources are also given with each essay. Maintained by the Nemours Foundation which is devoted to children's health.
  
  
• Mayo Clinic Health and Medical Information - Mayo Clinic provides a gateway to links and Clinic publications for health and medical information for the layperson.
  
  
• Medical College of Wisconsin (MCW) HealthLink - Produced in Milwaukee by the Medical College of Wisconsin, this site provides 1,400 full-text articles on a wide range of health topics and reports on current research activities of the physicians at the medical college. Includes archive of the "Dear Dr. Becky" column which appears biweekly in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
  
  
• MedicineNet - Provides information on diseases, tests, medications and much more. Allows keyword searches and includes a medical dictionary with hyperlinked cross-references, current health news and product recalls.
  
  
• MEDLINEplus - Organized, reviewed and maintained by health science librarians and designed to provide one-stop shopping for consumer health information. Includes full text information and prepackaged Medline searches by topic and for clinical trials which will point to those that are recruiting or about to recruit.
  
  
• National Women's Health Information Center - Information provided by the U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services - Office on Women's Health.
  
  
• Quack Watch - This site is dedicated to exposing health fraud and to aid people in making informed decisions regarding medical claims for products and procedures.
  
  
• Women's Health - New York Times site provides health information for women. Also includes a search engine.
  
  
• YourSurgery.com - Describes surgical procedures including anatomy and physiology (with pictures and illustrations), the examination, tests that are performed, indications for the surgery, alternative solutions, the procedure itself, a list of possible complications, a rundown of the postoperative care and innovations in the technique.

Reference

• Medicare - The official U.S. Government Site for Medicare information. Includes news and updates, a comparison of nursing homes, answers to frequently asked questions, a directory of participating physicians and helpful contacts.
  
  
• Merck Manuals - Online versions of The Merck Manual of Medical Information--Home Edition, The Merck Manual of Geriatrics, and The Merck Manual of Diagnosis and Therapy. These not only include the full contents but also any corrections made since they were printed. You can view them through a table of contents or by a word search.
  
  
• National Library of Medicine - Official site of the world's largest medical library. Includes links to resources such as MEDLINE which was created by the NLM, and to ClinicalTrials.gov with information for patients about research studies in progress.
  
  
• On-line Medical Dictionary - A searchable dictionary containing terms relating to biochemistry, cell biology, chemistry, medicine, molecular biology, physics, plant biology, radiobiology, science and technology. Distributed by CancerWEB under license from Academic Medical Publishing.

Organizations and Specific Topics

• American Cancer Society - This official site provides extensive information on prevention and treatment of cancer.
  
  
• American Heart Association - Home page for the AHA. Includes basic information about heart disease and related subjects such as cholesterol and triglycerides.
  
  
• American Medical Association - Official site for the AMA.
  
  
• CancerOption.com - A well organized site with separate sections for various forms of cancer. Each section covers research, stages, treatment options, complementary therapies and links to additional sources. There is also information on clinical trials and support groups. New articles are posted nearly every day.
  
  
• Epilepsy Foundation - Covers all aspects of epilepsy from the medical aspects to legal issues and advocacy groups. Includes information on clinical trials seeking volunteers.
  
  
• Heart Center Online - This company was founded specifically to provide high quality cardiovascular information on the Internet to both doctors and patients, each having their own section on this site. There are topical patient guides, tips on nutrition, an "ask the cardiologist" feature, information on clinical trials, sections for diseases, tests and specialties and much more.
  
  
• Heart Information Network - Provided by the Center for Cardiovascular Education. An independent, educational Web site that provides a wide range of information and services for heart patients and others interested in learning about lowering risk factors for heart disease.
  
  
• National Cancer Institute - Includes facts about cancer and resources for scientists as well as information about the NCI.
  
  
• OncoLink: University of Pennsylvania Cancer Center - Founded in 1994 by Penn cancer specialists, this site provides comprehensive information about specific types of cancer, updates on cancer treatments and news about research advances. Updated daily. Information provided at various levels, from introductory to in-depth.

Drugs

• FDA Drug Approvals List - Lists drugs recently approved by the FDA. Updated weekly.
  
  
• HealthTouch Drug Information - Lists drugs by name but also allows a name search. Other areas of this site provide broader based health information
  
  
• MEDLINEplus: Drug Information - Taps information provided by DrugMaster (a product of the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists) and USP DI (a product of the United State Pharmacopeia). This covers both prescription and over-the-counter medicines.
  
  
• RxList - The Internet Drug Index - Includes a search function to find drug information. Provides very complete descriptions in layperson's terms. Other features are a medical dictionary, a list of the "top 200" drugs prescribed and a section on alternative medicines.
  
  
• USP (United States Pharmacopeia) - USP establishes state-of-the-art standards to ensure the quality of medicines for human and veterinary use. USP also develops authoritative information about the appropriate use of medicines.

Doctors

• AMA Online Doctor Finder - A database maintained by the American Medical Association. Search for information about your physician. Locate medical specialists in your area.
  
  
• ABMS Board Certified Doctors - Home page for the American Board of Medical Specialties public education program. Features include ability to verify a doctor's board certification, a certified doctor locator and an explanation of certification.
  
  
• HealthGrades - Provides ratings of doctors and hospitals and lists doctors' professional histories.
  
  
• Mental Health

• American Psychological Association's Help Center - Provides a number of articles on different aspects of mental health, such as dealing with illness, family problems and stress.
  
  
• Center for Mental Health Services (CMHS) Knowledge Exchange Network - The CMHS is a component of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. It leads Federal efforts to treat mental illnesses by promoting mental health and by preventing the development or worsening of mental illness when possible.
  
  
• Internet Mental Health - An encyclopedia of free mental health information. Includes sections on disorders, treatment, research, diagnosis and medications. Also a mental health magazine and links to other sites.
  
  
• Mental Help Net - A CMHC System guide to mental health, psychology, and psychiatry online, currently listing over 7,000 individual resources.
  
  
• Mental Health InfoSource - Maintained by Continuing Medical Education, Inc. which provides clinical information to physicians, psychiatrists, patients and caregivers. Choose from an A-Z list of disorders and find articles, FAQ's, and links to pertinent web sites.
  
  
• Psych Central: Dr. John Grohol's Mental Health Page - An annotated guide to the most useful Websites, newsgroups, and mailing lists online today in mental health, psychology, social work, and psychiatry.

Alternative Medicine

• Alternative Health News Online - Attempts to supply links to some of the more informative and credible sites available. Includes a substantial number of convential health sites and sites that are updated daily and weekly.
  
  
• The Alternative Medicine Homepage - A jumpstation for sources of information on unconventional, unorthodox, unproven, or alternative, complementary, innovative, integrative therapies. Categories include government resources and practitioners' directories.
  
  
• HealthWorld - Alternative Medicine Center - A menu based source of articles concerning alternative therapies and systems and a wide range of health conditions. Also allows a word search. Go the home page to find more general health information.
  
  
• HerbMed - An interactive herbal database – providing hyperlinked access to the scientific data underlying the use of herbs for health. It draws some information from Pubmed. A project of the Alternative Medicine Foundation, Inc.
  
  
• National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine - NCCAM at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) conducts and supports basic and applied research and training and disseminates information on complementary and alternative medicine to practitioners and the public.
  
  
• Richard and Hinda Rosenthal Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine - The Rosenthal Center is one of 13 specialty research centers at major medical schools funded by the National Institutes of Health to study complementary and alternative therapies. This includes information for professional and lay users and a special page for cancer treatments.
  
  
• WholeHealthMD - Very nicely arranged and accessible source of complementary and alternative medical and health information developed by a team of board-certified doctors and specialists. Includes recipes, expert opinions, a reference library and news.