Web sites you can use

Making the most of the Internet

While the Internet has been praised for its wealth of information, sometimes it is that very wealth that can wreak havoc. After all, with millions of Web sites from which to choose, just how do you separate the wheat from the chaff? Here are a few sites to get you started.

General health-related sites

- www.altmedicine.com (alternative medicine)

Not your average health care site, this Web page from Alternative Health News Online gives those looking for something a little different something to sink their teeth into. Among the topics are: health news bulletins; diet and nutrition; mind/body control (covers everything from art therapy to yoga and from biofeedback to Zen meditation); alternative medical systems (covers major medical systems and traditions, such as ayurvedic, Chinese, holistic, homeopathic, naturopathic and others); longevity; manual healing (hands-on techniques such as Chinese Qigong, cranial osteopathy, massage therapy, Reiki, therapeutic touch); and "Ask Dr. Weil."

- www.drkoop.com

This site from the former U.S. surgeon general is geared to the consumer and offers a variety of general health-related information, including sections on health news and resources, family health, health and wellness, community resources, and a medical encyclopedia. Also on the site are such interactive options as health calculators and a drug checker. (Type in the name of a drug and get the scoop on its uses and side effects.)

- www.cdc.gov

Information about Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s facilities, people, budget, and mission, including CDC data and statistics; health topics (fact sheets, disease prevention, and general information); current health news; links to other health-related sites (state and local health resources, public health partners); training and educational opportunities through the CDC; and traveler’s health information. Also available are the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, the Emerging Infections Disease Journal, and CDC prevention guidelines. Resources are available in Spanish.

- www.fda.gov

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s site offers information on such topics as medical devices and radiological health, toxicology research, and medical products reporting and safety information.

- www.intelihealth.com

This general, user-friendly site offers a variety of information and choices, from chat rooms to specific pages geared to men’s, women’s, children’s, and seniors’ health. Also on the site are sections devoted to featured health areas such as HIV/AIDS, nutrition, caregivers, and weight management, a Today’s News section, and tools to calculate everything from a pregnant woman’s due date to tracking health data related to diabetes, high blood pressure, and asthma.

- www.mayohealth.org

The Mayo Clinic’s site is divided into "centers," each focusing on one of the following issues: allergy/asthma, Alzheimer’s, arthritis, cancer, children’s, digestive, heart, medicine, men’s, nutrition, women’s, and headline news.

- www.quackwatch.com

As a member of Consumer Federation of America, Quackwatch Inc. is a nonprofit corporation whose purpose is to combat health-related frauds, myths, fads, and fallacies. Its primary focus is on quackery-related information that is difficult or impossible to get elsewhere. Founded by Stephen Barrett, MD, in 1969 as the Lehigh Valley Committee Against Health Fraud, it was incorporated in 1970 and assumed its current name in 1997. Activities include: investigating questionable claims, answering inquiries, reporting illegal marketing, generating consumer protection lawsuits, and improving the quality of health information on the Internet.

Disease-specific sites

- www.aoa.dhhs.gov

The Administration on Aging’s site gives insight into today’s seniors and their health and lifestyle needs. Within each topic are numerous links geared toward older persons and their families, practitioners and other professionals, plus the Aging Network (links to other sites concerning seniors), and a section for researchers and students.

- www.cancernet.nci.nih.gov/

Most information on CancerNet comes from PDQ, the National Cancer Institute’s comprehensive cancer database. PDQ information is generated and maintained by editorial boards who specialize in cancer information. There is a separate editorial board to cover each type of cancer summary: state-of-the-art treatment summaries for adult cancers, summaries for childhood cancers, supportive care summaries, cancer screening/prevention summaries, and cancer genetics summaries. For each area, there is a core editorial board that meets to discuss and modify cancer information summaries based on review of recently published data. The site offers information on: types of cancer, treatment, clinical trials, genetics, causes, risk factors, prevention, testing, coping, and more.

- www.diabetes.org

Among the topics covered by the American Diabetes Association Web site are sections on general information, nutrition, tips of the day, a section geared to African-Americans, clinical practice recommendations, a resource section with books both for consumers and health care professionals. Other sections allow visitors to subscribe to professional journals such as Clinical Diabetes, Diabetes Care, Diabetes Reviews, and Diabetes Spectrum. A Professionals section offers the health care professional links to clinical practice recommendations, journals, research, and professional education.

- www.mhsource.com

The Mental Health Infosource Web site offers insight into a variety of mental health diseases, including bipolar disorder and depression. Resources include links to professional journals, an "Ask the Expert" section, information on a host of symptoms, and continuing education outlets including home study.

Professional sites

- www.mdchoice.com

This site, divided into consumer and health care professional sections, offers a little bit of everything. For the medical professional, full-text journals are available for perusal, as are on-line textbooks and more. For the consumer, the site offers articles and editorials on a variety of subjects as well as an on-line home emergency simulator whereby emergency medicine and pediatric specialists created to introduce basic life-saving techniques. These lessons and simulations are based on current recommendations developed by a national medical expert panel and the American Heart Association.

- www.medhelp.org

This site from Med Help International is dedicated to helping patients find the highest quality medical information in the world today. Its goal is to provide patients with the tools necessary to make informed treatment decisions within the short time lines dictated by their illness or disease. The "Virtual Medical Center for Patients" is a collection of information and professional medical support gathered from among the best medical organizations and experts in the world, and is comprised of: a consumer health information library (utilizing the Med Help search engine), "Question & Answer Medical Specialty Forums," which give patients direct access to leading physicians and healthcare professionals, a "Patient-to-Patient Network" and a section on "Daily Medical and Health News."

- www.medlineplus.org

The world’s largest medical library — the National Library of Medicine at the National Institutes of Health — hosts this site. It provides both health professionals and consumers accurate, current medical information as well as access to extensive information about specific diseases and conditions. The site also has links to consumer health information from the National Institutes of Health, dictionaries, lists of hospitals and physicians, health information in Spanish and other languages, and clinical trials.

- www.medscape.com

Medscape offers specialists, primary care physicians, and other health professionals integrated multispecialty medical information and education tools. Visitors may choose from an assortment of specialty sites, primary care medicine sites, and nonclinical sites such as "Money & Medicine" or "Humor & Medicine." Each specialty delivers continually updated content from tens of thousands of medical journal articles, expert-authored state-of-the-art surveys in disease management, next-day summaries from major medical meetings, and more. All articles are Web-enhanced and cross-linked for on-line browsing and smart information retrieval.

Some of Medscape’s key features include clinical management modules (state-of-the-art surveys of disease management authored by leading experts); unrestricted free access to MEDLINE and AIDSLINE; DrugSearch, providing easy searching of the National Drug Data File from First DataBank; daily professional medical news in your specialty; self-assessment features; and hundreds of hours of CME credit, much of it available for free.

- www.nursingworld.org

Brought to you by the American Nurses Association, this Web site offers visitors a host of nursing-related topics. Nurses can read up on the subjects of workplace safety, their rights in the workplace, the latest in professional news and research, safety and health on the job, certification and recertification information, and more. Links allow visitors to connect with other like-minded organizations and journals.

- www.rxmed.com

The Web site for family care physicians, it provides visitors with drug monographs for all drugs, travelers’ health information, patient handouts covering more than 400 illnesses, and links to other related Web sites.

Pharmaceutical sites

- www.druginfonet.com

A one-stop site for health care informational needs, Drug Infonet provides both information and links to areas on the Web concerning health care and pharmaceutical-related topics. Subject areas include: "Ask the Doctor," drug and disease information, medical reference and study, and pharmaceutical manufacturer information.

- www.virtualdrugstore.com/druglist.html

The New Drug Database at Virtual Drugstore contains information on over 200 drugs newly released to the market since 1996. The database is organized by drug use. Both the brand and generic names of the medications are listed. The database, however, is not exhaustive and only contains new prescription medications.

Search engine sites

- www.google.com

- www.northernlight.com

- www.metacrawler.com

- www.mamma.com

- www.lycos.com

- www.oneseek.com

- www.savvysearch.com

- http://world.altavista.com/ (free translation software)