Rx for Health on the Web
Janet Foster
In the past few years a cyber revolution has taken place in the medical arena. Health sites have proliferated and people are using the Net to garner information about medical treatments, learn more about diagnoses and even join support groups for specific illnesses or conditions. Healthcare consumers frequently ask public librarians working at reference desks to field medical questions. By using a few simple strategies, librarians and patrons can learn to distinguish between bona fide medical information and non-authoritative resources.
The best medical information can be accessed within a few choice health gateway sites produced and maintained by hospitals, universities, and major health organizations. Bookmarking these medical resources or creating cyber pathways affords patrons alternatives in Web healthcare advice that have been rigorously screened for content and accuracy.
Evaluating Health Sites
Authenticating online medical information online is of vital concern. The governing body or authority that assumes responsibility for the site should be clearly indicated. In general, sites produced by marketers to sell their products may not be as reliable as other health organizations. Look for clear identification of writers and editors, ideally, professionals affiliated with respectable institutions and have credentials that match the subject to ensure reliable information.
The Mayo Clinic’s Health Oasis, edited by a board of physicians and writers, is renowned as one of the best in the field. The site contains good basic information and a wealth of reliable knowledge on a broad range of conditions. In addition, specific sections are devoted to alternative medicine as well as men’s, women’s and children’s health. There is also a medical glossary containing definition of terms and audio samples of correct pronunciations.
At MedicineNet, physicians and scientists write and edit the information. Their biographies and credentials are listed at the site ensuring professional expertise. Despite the authority of the governing body, remember that patients still need to consult their own doctors before making inferences about their own medical conditions.
Sources of information should be clearly indicated and articles should cite peer-reviewed, published studies. To check authenticity, the National Library of Medicine offers free access to Medline, a database of 9 million abstracts from 4,000 journals. The National Cancer Institute’s CancerNet also links to journal articles, as well as to ongoing clinical trials.
Medicine changes fast, but unlike print materials, a Web site can change with it. Note when the material was posted and check to see that the site regularly reviews its own content. Several Web sites are available for help with evaluating content. Metasites like Healthfinder.gov which points to government, nonprofit and other official sources, employs staff to evaluate each of the sites it lists. Eventually, health and medical sites may use various endorsements indicating that they abide by a set criteria. Groups such as Health on the Net and the Health Information Technology Institute are working towards that goal. Both HITI and a committee convened by the federal government plan to issue guidelines designed for Web-site developers, consumers, healthcare providers and policymakers.
Healthfinder.gov
Healthfinder is a gateway to thousands of medical resources ranging from the National Institutes of Health to the American Heart Association and is one of the most respected sites for health resources on the Web. Healthfinder.gov was launched by Vice President Al Gore to make it easier to find federal health information online. A government service created by the Health and Human Services Department, Healthfinder.gov can save valuable research time by acting as an intelligent gateway to literally hundreds of medical resources.
While Healthfinder focuses on links to data about illness and injuries, it also includes tips on how to stay fit and healthy. Links to dozens of federal and state, local, university and non-profit organizations lead to information about diet, exercise, smoking cessation and substance abuse to name a few topics of interest To use Heathfinder, click on search from its home page. An alphabetical index of topics makes it easy to locate information and subheadings for broad general topics like Alzheimers or AIDS provide hyperlinks to more specific details. Healthfinder.gov also prints a brochure which public librarians might want to have available for patrons. These cost 50 cents each and are well worth ordering for inclusion in your medical collection.
The Web Doctor is In
Based on the vision of Dr. C. Everett Koop, the former U.S. Surgeon General, the Dr. Koop Web site contains news, health advice, product reviews, automated drug checkers and local resource guides and is a great stop for wellness surfers. Access interactive online communities or check on the latest developments concerning specific conditions in the disease centers at Dr. Koop. Bulletins about product recalls; health events; fitness, mental health, nutrition, first aid, and prevention information are also available. In Dr. Koop’s pharmacy section you can check drug interactions, and link to FDA Drug Information. Other options offered at Dr. Koop’s Web site include medical nd pediatric encyclopedias, symptom identifiers and home health care advice.
New York Online Access to Health
New York Online Access to Health, known as NOAH, is the most credible bilingual (Spanish and English) health Web site . Though it’s New York-based, the scope is not regional or narrow in focus. In fact, it offers a wonderful array of data on a multitude of diseases, and it features excellent links to medical resources. Ask NOAH About Health provides fact sheets and links particularly in the areas of cancer, AIDS and mental health.
New York Online Access to Health (NOAH) has been offering bilingual consumer health information since 1995. Four partners—the City University of New York, the Metropolitan New York Library Council, the New York Academy of Medicine, and the New York Public Library—collaborated to establish the site as an authoritative bilingual health information site, dedicated to an underserved population of health consumers, many of whom are also Spanish-speaking.
National Library of Medicine
The National Library of Medicine’s MEDLINE database contains more than 9 million references to articles published in 3,900 biomedical journals and is accessible free of charge. MEDLINE, links to self-help groups, medical dictionaries, directories of doctors and hospitals, access to National Institute of Health consumer-related organizations, clearinghouses, health-related organizations, and a searchable section with dozens of databases on topics such as clinical trials, nutrition, AIDS, cancer and other relevant resources.
MEDLINEplus offers a friendly graphical user interface and wealth of resources on various diseases and health topics for the public. The site directory is designed to lead the user to resources containing information that will help patrons research their health questions. The National Library of Medicine has presented a gateway to carefully selected resources that answer almost any health question in the MedLinePlus databse. Links in the Health Topics area take users to materials on common diseases and conditions, as well as reliable links outside the database. Medical dictionaries are a click away, ready to explain confusing terms or help correctly spell the many challenging search terms.
Cyber Physicians’ Desk Reference
Locating pharmaceutical information is easy at PDR.net for Consumers. The main sections of this huge resource are: Drug Information, full text of the PDR Family Guides to: Prescription Drugs, Women’s Health, an Encyclopedia of Medical Care; Clinical Trial Information, which leads to Center Watch, with a wealth of information related to clinical trials. Also included is information about Doctors, with databases to help select physicians as well as dentists, managed care plans, and hospitals; Magazine Archives [full-text articles from thirteen medical journals—most free, from current date back to 1996] are also available. Cyber PDR was established by the publishers of the Physicians Desk Reference. Free registration is required.
Rx for Web Success
Using Internet resources for medical and health related questions in an undeniably remarkable advancement of the twenty-first century. The goal to provide quality health information to the public and ultimately to help empower families to make better health decisions is available at the click of a mouse. Portals like YAHOO health and gateways like WebMD facilitate easy access to health information. However, bear in mind that healthcare consumers need to work in liaison with their local doctors and healthcare providers.
For more information about using health on the Net, two good book choices are: NetDoctor and The Doctor’s Always In. Net Doctor is the most complete paperback guide for medical sites on the Internet. Net Doctor lists more than 2,000 health sites on the Internet, offering expert guidance on how to find all types of medical information quickly and easily. From internal medicine to psychology, fitness, or health care policies, NetDoctor makes it easy to find the sites and services that can help you heal and stay healthy. Sites for nearly all diseases and conditions, home health care, first aid, virtual surgery, resources for the disabled, mental health, addiction and recovery, abuse and support, alternative medicine, medical libraries, and more is available in this fully indexed volume.
The Doctor’s Always In is a comprehensive guide to medical information on the Internet that is uniquely oriented to the needs of consumers rather than medical professionals. There are twenty-five easy-to-read chapters that are organized according to body system and specific disease categories. Each entry contains a site address, description of the information at that site and, if available, the e-mail address of a contact person at that site. In addition there are several introductory chapters that explain in non-technical language how the Internet and Web work.
Resources Cited in This Article
Healthfinder, www.healthfinder.gov
Mayo Clinic’s Health Oasis, www.mayohealth.org
MedicineNet, www.medicinenet.com
Medline, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/PubMed
Health on the Net, www.hon.ch
Health Information Technology Institute, www.mitretekorg/hiti
National Cancer Institute’s CancerNet, cancernet .nci.nih.gov
Dr. Koop, http://drkoop.com
NOAH, http://www.noah.cuny.edu
MEDLINE, www.nlm.nih.gov/databases/freemedl.html
MEDLINEplus, http://medlineplus.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus
National Library of Medicine, www.nlm.nih.gov
PDR.net for Consumers, www.pdr.net/consumer
Netdoctor: Your Guide to Health and Medical Advice on the Internet and Online Services by Michael Wolff. Dell Publishing Company; ISBN: 0440224268
The Doctor’s Always in : A Guide to 1100+ Best Health & Medical Information Sites on the Internet. by Jay S. Schneider, Theodore. I Lidsky.Neuroinformatics Inc; ISBN: 0966494903