1. Good Places to Start
2. Fitness and Nutrition
3. Medical Language, Diagnostic Tests, and Surgery
4. Diseases
5. Children's and Teens' Health
6. Women's Health
7. Men's Health
8. Senior's Health
9. Hospitals and Nursing Homes
10. Information about Physicians
11. Local Medical Support Groups
12. Mental Health and Disease/Support Groups
13. Alternative Health
14. Sites Directed to Physicians

Good Places to Start

MEDLINEplus

http://medlineplus.gov/

Organized access to a myriad of reliable sites provided by medical library experts at the National Library of Medicine. Links are to consumer sites that contain few, if any, advertisements; updates are frequent and timely.

American Academy of Family Physicians Health Information for Patients

http://familydoctor.org/

Click here for disease/condition handouts like those you receive when visiting a physician’s office. Excellent symptom-based flowcharts, tips on choosing a family doctor and dealing with medical errors plus much more.

NetWellness

http://www.netwellness.org

A non-profit consumer health web site, from medical-school faculty of 3 Ohio universities. Includes Adam, a health encyclopedia of over 1,500 informative articles, many with illustrations and animations. Pose questions to local experts or search answers they wrote previously.

NOAH (New York Online Access to Health – Acceso Computerizado de la Salud en Nueva York)

http://www.noah-health.org

Links to high-quality, full-text, accurate, timely, relevant and unbiased consumer health information in English and Spanish.

The CAPHIS Top 100 List of Web Sites You Can Trust

http://caphis.mlanet.org/consumer

Librarians of the Medical Library Association looked all over the web and chose these as the most useful sites for their Consumer and Patient Health Information Section (CAPHIS)

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

http://www.cdc.gov/index.htm

Links to information on prevention and control of infectious and chronic diseases, injuries, workplace hazards, disabilities, and environmental health threats. Need photos, illustrations or videos for topics listed above? Use the search box at http://phil.cdc.gov/phil/home.asp

U.S. Food and Drug Administration

http://www.fda.gov/

The federal agency that regulates, among other products, food, food supplements, drugs, cosmetics, vaccines, and medical devices presents a searchable site that can be browsed for information especially useful for consumers, teens, seniors, and others.

Healthfinder

http://www.healthfinder.gov

Gateway to reliable, ad-free, consumer health and human services information in English and Spanish. Information is from a selective list of federal and state agencies, clearinghouses, not-for-profits, support groups and self-help groups.

Internet Public Library (IPL) Health & Medical Sciences Resources

http://www.ipl.org/div/subject/browse/hea00.00.00

A large collection of links that have been evaluated by experienced librarians, who write an informative description of the linked pages.

Healthy Roads Media

http://www.healthyroadsmedia.org

Information provided here is in 4 formats: written, sound, multimedia and web-page video, although every topic may not be presented in every format. Plus you can choose from 1 of 11 languages. An excellent page for consumers who need information on basic topics in their native language, if the information they need is here.

The Merck Manuals

http://www.merck.com/pubs/

Complete, concise information for consumers and health professionals from a longstanding medical publisher. Has helpful enhancements like pronunciation, animations, photographs and videos. Consumer health titles are Merck Manual and Merck Manual of Health & Aging.

MayoClinic.com

http://www.mayoclinic.com

Provides an excellent integration of health, wellness and disease information. If you choose to register and complete a health profile, webpages about your specific conditions and interests will be selected for you.

 

 

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Fitness and Nutrition

Exercise and Fitness from NetWellness

http://www.netwellness.org/healthtopics/fitness/default.cfm

Well-organized links from a non-profit consumer health web site, created by medical-school faculty of 3 Ohio universities. Pose questions to local experts or search answers written previously on fitness and nutrition topics.

Exercise/Physical Fitness from MedlinePlus

http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/exerciseandphysicalfitness.html

Extensive fitness information with pages devoted to the latest news, organizations, statistics, and health check tools. Plus links to help children, seniors or women find a program that suits them best.

Shape Up America! Fitness Center

http://www.shapeup.org

Find logical, proven ways to identify your own program to maintain healthy body weight through increased physical activity and healthy eating. Has tools for assessment, improvement and overcoming barriers.

Diet and Nutrition from NetWellness

http://www.netwellness.org/healthtopics/diet/

An inviting set of links that will appeal to all, from those who just started thinking about what they eat everyday to those who are tweaking their already-very-nutritious meal plan.

MyPyramid (United States Department of Agriculture)

http://www.mypyramid.gov/

For all who are looking for helpful tips and a plan for changing to healthier eating and exercise habits. A fun, colorful, animated tour explains the Pyramid concept. Use MyPyramid Tracker to assess your current food/physical activity choices and keep an online record of your progress.

U.S. Food and Drug Administration Center for Food Safety & Applied Nutrition

http://www.cfsan.fda.gov/list.html

Recent news plus consumer information about food, diet, nutrition, dietary supplements and food safety.

Nutrition Source from Harvard School of Public Health

http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/

Directed primarily to clinicians, but consumers who want high-quality information that relates diet to chronic disease will find it here. Other consumer topics are nutrition news and links to other good nutrition sites.

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Medical Language, Diagnostic Tests, and Surgery

Deciphering Medspeak

http://www.mlanet.org/resources/medspeak/index.html

Medical librarians created this site to help laymen understand the specialized language used in the medical world. One page is on general terms, one on terms/abbreviations used in prescriptions, and one on deciding if a health website is a reliable source of information.

Lab Tests Online

http://www.labtestsonline.org/

American Association for Clinical Chemistry site for consumers. “Understanding Your Tests,” connects to topics such as reference ranges, your role in preparing for a test, and home testing. Extensive information about specific tests is provided as well.

Surgery from MedlinePlus

http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/surgery.html

If your doctor has recommended surgery, you probably have many questions. Look here for information about whether to seek a second opinion, questions for your surgeon, and what to expect before and after.

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Children's and Teens' Health

KidsHealth

http://www.kidshealth.org

For parents, kids and teens a searchable site of accurate, up-to-date, information about growth, food, fitness, childhood infections, lab tests, immunizations, medical/surgical conditions, and the latest treatments. To go directly to information for teens, go to http://www.kidshealth.org/teen/

American Academy of Pediatrics

http://www.aap.org

In-depth comprehensive child health information covering everything from immunization and obesity to breastfeeding and injury prevention. Includes policy statements, plus descriptions of academy-published books.

Teen Health from MedlinePlus

http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/teenhealth.html

Just about anything you want to know about teen's health can be accessed from this site, including a health guide written with a colorful, with-it approach and healthy recipes that appeal to youth.

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Women's Health

Women's Health from NetWellness

http://www.netwellness.org/healthtopics/women/default.cfm

Well-organized links under helpful headings put together by medical school faculty from 3 Ohio universities. Pose questions to local experts or search answers they wrote previously specifically about women's health.

Women's Health Issues from Medlineplus

http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/womenshealthissues.html

A well-organized set of frequently-updated links. From the latest news up top to connections to organizations and more specialized topics as you move down the page, you will find much helpful information here.

Consumer Information from the Society for Women's Health Research

http://swhr.convio.net/site/PageServer?pagename=consumers_main

Consumer health links from a national non-profit organization that aims to improve the health of all women through research, education and advocacy. Also has links to sites concerned with women's health policy.

Office of Research on Women's Health

http://orwh.od.nih.gov/index.html

Links selected by those who have been a national focal point of women's health research for more than 15 years. Information ranges from the research agenda for the 21st century, to developing opportunities and support for women in biomedical careers.

Health & Sexuality from feminist.com

http://www.feminist.com/resources/links/links_health.html

An extensive list of links to resources and web sites related to virtually all aspects of women's health and reproductive concerns.

Obgyn.net: The Universe of Women's Health

http://www.obgyn.net

A global, physician-reviewed network for doctors, medical professionals, women and the medical industry. Although primarily aimed at professionals there is a great deal of quality information for the laywoman.

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Men's Health

Men's Health from NetWellness

http://www.netwellness.org/healthtopics/men/default.cfm

Well-organized links under helpful headings put together by medical school faculty from 3 Ohio universities. Pose questions to local experts or search answers they wrote previously specifically about men's health.

Men's Health Issues from Medlineplus

http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/menshealthissues.html

A well-organized set of frequently-updated links. From the latest news up top to connections to organizations and more specialized topics as you move down the page, you will find much helpful information here.

Men's Health from NOAH (New York Online Access to Health - Acceso Computerizado de la Salud en Nueva York)

http://www.noah-health.org/en/healthy/men/

Links to high-quality, full-text, accurate, timely, relevant consumer health information about men's health in English and Spanish. You can start with basics or find your issue in the list given. Includes a video library.

Men's Health from FamilyDoctor.org

http://familydoctor.org/men.xml

Links for six categories of information specific to men's health/lifestyle are provided here, including general health, fatherhood, mental health and reproductive health. You can easily print or e-mail the information.

 

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Senior's Health

Senior Health from NetWellness

http://www.netwellness.org/healthtopics/aging/default.cfm

Well-organized links under helpful headings put together by medical school faculty from 3 Ohio universities. Pose questions to local experts or search answers they wrote previously specifically about senior's health.

Seniors' Health Issues from Medlineplus

http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/seniorshealthissues.html

A well-organized set of frequently-updated links. From the latest news up top to connections to organizations and more specialized topics as you move down the page, you will find much helpful information here.

National Institute on Aging

http://www.nia.nih.gov/

Promotes healthy aging by conducting and supporting biomedical, social, behavioral research, and public education. Use the search box in the upper right to find NIA online pages on the senior health subject of your choice.

Healthy Aging from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

http://www.cdc.gov/aging

Font-size-adjustable page with links to information specifically about older adults. Includes areas on health information, health statistics, public and private organizations, and a listserv on public health and aging.

Senior Health from Mayo Clinic

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/senior-health/HA99999

With basic information about just what aging is and specific tips on actively pursuing a healthy lifestyle plus help on how to make health care decisions, this site is chock full of good information nuggets. Slide shows about assistive devices and an Ask A Specialist area are other strong points.

Merck Manual of Geriatrics

http://www.merck.com/mrkshared/mmg/home.jsp

This is the search page for a book, written for health practitioners, on the health problems of the elderly, but a motivated lay reader can find much good information as well.

Helping the Senior Driver in Your Life

http://www.aaaseniors.com/

Aimed at seniors and their loved ones and dedicated to keeping seniors driving as long as safely possible, this site offers safe driving tips especially for seniors plus much more. Emphasis is on early planning and communication; includes an online self-rating skills assessment plus information about other for-fee methods of skill assessment available from AAA. Excellent discussion of how aging affects our sensing, deciding, and acting driving skills plus tips to counteract the changes.

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Hospitals and Nursing Homes

Akron Children's Hospital

http://www.akronchildrens.org/

Akron City Hospital http://www.summahealth.org/common/templates/contentindex.asp?ID=850

Akron General Medical Center

http://www.akrongeneral.org/portal/page?_pageid=153,144849&_dad=portal&_schema=PORTAL

Barberton Citizens Hospital

http://www.barbhosp.com

Cleveland Clinic

http://www.clevelandclinic.org

Cuyahoga Falls General Hospital

http://www.summahealth.org/common/templates/contentindex.asp?ID=1359

St. Thomas Hospital

http://www.summahealth.org/common/templates/contentindex.asp?ID=1346

University Hospitals of Cleveland

http://www.uhhs.com

Hospital Compare

http://www.hospitalcompare.hhs.gov/

Search by hospital name or by location to find how well hospitals in your area care for their adult patients with certain medical conditions. Participating hospitals have agreed to submit and report additional quality information for public reporting through the Hospital Quality Alliance program.

Quality Check

http://www.qualitycheck.org/consumer/searchQCR.aspx

In this database of providers accredited by the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations, you may search by zip code or by name for quality reports for assisted living facilities, HMOs, PPOs, home care providers, hospitals, laboratories, mental health facilities, substance abuse treatment centers, nursing homes and outpatient care centers.

American Hospital Directory

http://www.ahd.com/freesearch.php3

Use the free search to find information from both the American Hospital Association and the Health Care Financing Administration, including financials, utilization statistics and hospital characteristics.

Medicare Nursing Home Compare

http://www.medicare.gov/NHCompare/home.asp

Provides detailed information about the performance of every Medicare and Medicaid certified nursing home in the country plus many useful tips on selecting a nursing home.

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Information about Physicians

Ohio State Medical Board

http://med.ohio.gov/

This site of the licensing and governing board for medical practice lists all licensed physicians, dentists, and limited branch practitioners (nurses, chiropractic physicians, massage therapists, etc.) and provides disciplinary procedures information. A click on”licensee profile and status” (small print, lower left corner) takes you to a search page. Use the drop down menu next to the Division box if you are looking for a practitioner other than a physician. Gives name, date/place of birth, medical school/graduation date, practice address, and license/disciplinary status.

American Medical Association DoctorFinder

http://webapps.ama-assn.org/doctorfinder/html/patient.html

The DoctorFinder link takes you to information about virtually every licensed physician (MDs and DOs) in the United States. After clicking to agree to the terms of use of the database, you may search for physician information either by name/location or by medical specialty/location. Includes members/non-members of AMA, although you must click through more screens to get to the non-member information, and more information is provided about AMA members.

American Board of Medical Specialties

http://www.abms.org

This board oversees certification in medical specialties in the United States. Information is provided about how a doctor becomes board certified and how to choose a doctor. Plus, you can search their database for free, once you have registered as a new user. After you click on “Is Your Doctor Certified,” in the left column, and complete your registrations, you may do two types of searches: Name and Location if you have a doctor in mind, or Certification and Location if you want to find all doctors with a specific specialty in your area.

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Mental Health and Disease/Support Groups

Network of Care for Behavioral Health

http://summit.oh.networkofcare.org/mh/home/index.cfm

Local and national news for individuals, families and agencies concerned with behavioral health services/issues plus much more. From the Library link, click to read about mental health conditions, substance abuse, and overcoming barriers. Or click on the Insurance link for information about low cost insurance and insurers in Ohio. To track the status of a federal or state bill about behavioral issues, click on Legislate. You may choose to save important information about your health care or community support services by clicking on My folder and registering. Information is available in American Sign Language, Cambodian, Cantonese, English, Korean, Spanish, Russian, Tagalog, and Vietnamese..

Internet Mental Health

http://www.mentalhealth.com

An encyclopedia of mental health information; includes descriptions of the most common mental disorders, a self-diagnosis section, one on psychiatric medications, and discussion forums. Created by a Canadian psychiatrist who accepts no corporate sponsors

HealthyMinds.org

http://healthyminds.org/

The American Psychiatric Association presents mental health issues information for consumers on this site. Updated often, it includes timely topics. There are links to the association’s brochures on specific conditions like depression, phobias, and how to choose a psychiatrist.

American Psychological Association Resources for the Public

http://www.apa.org/topics/homepage.html

A searchable site plus an organized set of links for common topics like aging, bullying, sleep, workplace issues, and depression. While not entirely ad free, for each topic there are links to free information.

Substance Abuse & Mental Health Services Administration

http://www.samhsa.gov/

A web site that provides information on building resilience and facilitating recovery for people with or at risk for mental or substance use disorders. Includes crisis phone numbers, creating caring communities, and disaster readiness.

Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance

http://www.dbsalliance.org/

A leading not-for-profit, patient-directed, organization provides up-to-date, scientifically-based tools and information written in language the general public can understand. Includes a support group search tool, opportunity to share your experiences, and discussion forums.

American Self-Help Clearinghouse Self-Help Sourcebook

http://mentalhelp.net/selfhelp

A searchable database that includes information on 1100+ self-help support groups, ideas for starting groups, and opportunities to link with others to develop needed new national or international groups. Provides resources for both common topics and also many rare diseases. You may read an overview annotation for a group before you connect to it.

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Alternative Health

National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM)

http://nccam.nih.gov

Information is presented from the arm of the National Institutes of Health that explores complementary/alternative healing practices in the context of rigorous science. For consumers, practitioners and investigators.

About Herbs, Botanicals & Other Products

http://www.mskcc.org/mskcc/html/11570.cfm

Extensive, excellent, frequently-updated information about alternative substances that can be searched by scientific, common, and brand names. Literature research and summaries are prepared by either a pharmacist who is also a botanicals expert or a cancer nutrition specialist; they search electronic databases that are not readily available to the layman

U.S. Food and Drug Administration Center for Food Safety & Applied Nutrition

http://www.cfsan.fda.gov/list.html

Recent news plus consumer information about food, diet, nutrition, dietary supplements and food safety.

Alternative Medicine Homepage

http://www.pitt.edu/~cbw/altm.html

The author of this well-annotated guide to Internet resources, mailing lists, newsgroups, and bibliographic databases chooses authorized sites with quality information in order to help individuals make informed decisions when selecting complementary and alternative therapies.

Alternative Health News Online

http://www.altmedicine.com/

Extensive collection of links to alternative, complementary and preventive health-news web pages. Provides frequently-updated links to nutrition, mind/body control, manual healing, longevity information and much more.

 

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Sites Directed to Physicians

National Library of Medicine PubMed

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi

For access to the world's medical literature, search this database of more than 10 million journal citations. Abstracts written for professionals, or just citations, are the extent of free access; for a fee you can access full text.

MedWeb@Emory University

http://www.medweb.emory.edu/MedWeb

A blend of consumer health/professional information in a classified list of web links. For the more technical information, click on Specialties, Publications, or Clinical Practice.

American College of Physicians-American Society of Internal Medicine Online

http://www.acponline.org/patcare

A site that offers links to publications, educational programs, and other services for doctors. While some materials are available only to members, much information about clinical practice is not restricted. “Web Sites for Internists” link leads to online medical textbooks and practice guidelines.

Merck Medicus

http://www.merckmedicus.com/pp/us/hcp/hcp_home.jsp

A medical portal designed specifically for U.S. healthcare providers. Provides breaking medical news, a wide variety of scientific learning resources, and cutting-edge diagnostic tools. Some parts available only on verification that the user is a physician.

Diseases Database

http://www.diseasesdatabase.com

For users experienced in both medical language textbook index terms and the drill-down method of finding information on the web. Site organises a limited and idiosyncratic subset of medical knowledge as easily maintained and linked lists. It is presented for education, background reading and general interest and is not intended as a diagnostic or decision-making tool.

Last Modified September 26, 2005