Tuesday, July 26, 2011

A Shared Summer #5

The Web is chock full of information, some of it good, some of it bad, some of it indifferent. This is the case when it comes to medical information. Some sites out there have medical information so "out there" that they make science fiction writing look positively tame by comparison. Some sites are written by experts in the field, and some are written by those who think they are experts but aren't. Some don't give the whole story about whatever you are trying to find out about, and some give you so much information that you drown.

So, what sites have you found that generally are factual rather than fantasy and are written so that "real" people can understand what is being said? My first stop when I'm looking for factual information is http://www.usa.gov/Agencies/Federal/All_Agencies/index.shtml This is a listing of all the US Government agencies. There are a number of them which deal with health matters, such as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, The Center for Nutritional Policy etc.. Once you find the agency you think will have the information you want, click on it. All the agencies are searchable by topic so type in what you are looking for and any articles appearing in the database will pop up.

Let us know what sites you have found useful for health information.

Note: a good place to start is at http://nccam.nih.gov/health/webresources/ which tells you how to evaluate a health information site. There are also links to other evaluation pages.

1 comment:

Abba's Rantings said...

all those government sites are excellent.

also sites from professional organizations (e.g., american academy of pediatrics, AMA, etc.)

look for websites that are HON certified
http://www.healthonnet.org/HONcode/Conduct.html

and http://www.mayoclinic.com/health-information/

in general stay away from commercial sites

for drugs:
http://www.rxlist.com/script/main/hp.asp

drugs.com
especially the interaction checker at http://www.drugs.com/drug_interactions.html

of course the usual caveats should apply even when using reputable sites.