Holyoke Consumer Health Library, Inc.

Consumer Health Web Resources [Disclaimer]

Recommended Starting Points:

• MedlinePlus
  http://medlineplus.gov/
  MedlinePlus will direct you to information that can help answer your health questions. It is the first place to look for health-related information. MedlinePlus is created by the National Library of Medicine (NLM), the National Institutes of Health (NIH), other government, non-profit and other health-related organizations. It covers over 700 health topics covering the latest news, research, and more. It also contains a database of full-text drug information and an illustrated medical encyclopedia. Other features include tutorials, surgery videos, and directories. It also has a Spanish version.
• The CAPHIS Top 100 List
  http://caphis.mlanet.org/consumer/
  CAPHIS (Consumer and Patient Health Information Section) is created by the Medical Library Association. Look for topics labeled "For Healthcare Consumers".
• Hardin Meta Directory
  http://www.lib.uiowa.edu/hardin/md/index.html
  This high quality site provides a "directory of directories" for health and medicine. The site is maintained by Hardin Library for the Health Sciences at the University of Iowa.
• Healthfinder
  http://www.healthfinder.gov/
  A service of the National Information Center and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Includes information on popular health topics, including news, web sites, and organizations. The "Just For You" section has resources grouped by age, gender, and ethnicity. In the "library" section you can search free medical journals. There are also guides, dictionaries, and other interesting resources. It also has a Spanish version.
• InteliHealth
  http://www.intellihealth.com/
  Comprehensive consumer health, disease, and drug info site provided through a joint venture between Aetna U.S.Healthcare and Harvard Medical School. Searchable site is updated daily. Free registration enables users to receive email on a variety of topics and search free databases. MedCite features latest cites from medical literature on 15,000+ topics. Displays HON Code symbol.
• Mayo Clinic
  http://www.mayoclinic.com/
  Comprehensive. It is divided into basic subjects such as Diseases and Conditions, Healthy Living, Drug Searches, Ask a Specialist, Programs and Tools, and My Health Interests. Useful if you need information to help you make a major decision in treating or preventing a condition. Focus on prevention. There are highlights of current topics of interest.
• Med Help International
  http://www.medhelp.org/
  A non-profit organization.  Comprehensive Consumer Health Library contains articles on disease & conditions from the MHI medical library, info from MHI "Ask the Doctor" forums, clinical trial info from Center Watch, MHI glossary entries, surgery videos, articles from the MHI "News Room" and articles from other selected Internet sites.  Medical News provided by InteliHealth.  Displays HONCode symbol.
• NOAH: New York Online Access to Health Home Page
  http://www.noah-health.org/
  Joint venture of 4 authoritative institutions in the fields of both information & medicine.  Comprehensive coverage of Health Topics with links to full-text sources.  Choice of three different search engines (to search NOAH & elsewhere).  "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.
• Wellness Information Zone
  http://www.wellzone.org/
  This project of the Humana Foundation and Libraries for the Future (LFF) aims to address the public's growing need for reliable and understandable health information and increased access to local health resources. It was piloted in Georgia in 2006 and has a Spanish version.

Further Research:

• Health Reference Center Academic
  Use this Infotrac database to find articles on: Fitness, Pregnancy, Medicine, Nutrition, Diseases, Public Health, Occupational Health and Safety, Alcohol and Drug abuse, HMOs, Prescription Drugs, etc. The material contained in this database is intended for informational purposes only. Full-text of many of the articles is provided. Log in to http://www.mlin.lib.ma.us/cgi-bin/remote.pl using your public library card number. Sponsored by Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners and the Six Regional Massachusetts Library Systems.
• NIH Health Information
  http://health.nih.gov/http://health.nih.gov/
  
• NLM Gateway (National Library of Medicine)
  http://gateway.nlm.nih.gov/
  An easy way to search in many NLM databases, including MedlinePlus and PubMed, at one time.
• PubMed
  http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/PubMed/
  Major research database indexing over 4,000 medical journals. Created by the National Library of Medicine.

See also our Special Topics section for additional recommendations.