Nowadays people are looking into the internet for medical information, for a healthy lifestyle or for getting a six pack body without any exercise! Tons of sites offering disease diagnostics, home remedies and details about alternative medicines. Some sites offer a six pack body without doing anything, by taking a simple drug or using a machine (offered by a blah blah presenter), what you want to do it, just buy the equipment and do the exercise or a massage once in a week or daily!
There are hundreds of sites offering medical information, but most of the sites are re-sellers or agents of some drugs or some industry, their reviews may be bias or related to/ use of the product that they want to sell. Check to see if the information is not having any vested interests, the information is current (less than few years old). then look for the author of the post or article (i.e. doctor, subject expert, nurse, psychologist). Checking the credentials of the author is essential to make sure the information is accurate and written by a health professional or an expert in the field. Here are some of the websites that are good for checking medical related information.
Medline Plus
(https://www.medlineplus.gov/)
This site is from U.S. National Library of Medicine which is sponsored by the National Institutes of Health. The main features of MedlinePlus are, a drug and supplement look-up, an illustrated medical encyclopedia, and current health news headlines and links. the health topics include health, wellness, disorders, and conditions. You can learn about prescription drugs, over-the-counter medicines, herbs, and supplements. The site contains videos on topics such as anatomy, body systems, and surgical procedures. You can test your knowledge with interactive tutorials and games. You can also check your health with calculators and quizzes. The site also has a Medical Encyclopedia, consists of articles and images for diseases, symptoms, tests, treatments.
John Hopkins Health Library
(http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/healthlibrary)
This site contains a guide to the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of conditions from A to Z. Various diseases and conditions, tests and procedures, recipes, nutrition information, prevention guidelines.
Healthfinder
(http://www.healthfinder.gov/)
This site is also very helpful for finding reliable health information and the site draws on more than 1,600 government and non-profit organizations to point you to current information. You can also find health guides, health-related news by topic, and a directory of health-related organizations.
Healthcare
(http://www.healthcare.gov/)
This site provides information from over 4,000 private health plans offered by over 200 insurers, across all 50 states and the District of Columbia. There is an Insurance Finder tool, that will help you to find the health insurance best suited to your needs – whether it’s private insurance for individuals, families, and small businesses, or public programs.
Mayoclinic
(http://mayoclinic.com/)
This is not a Governmental organization, the site is owned by the Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research. The Site is a product of efforts by more than 3,300 physicians, scientists and researchers from Mayo Clinic, and provides in-depth, easy-to-understand information on hundreds of diseases and conditions.
Webmd
(http://www.webmd.com)
WebMD gives various health information, tools for managing your health, and support to those who seek information. The site offers well-crafted articles on health, food, and exercise. The site also offers a list of calculators like Fitness Calorie Counter, Food Calorie Counter, Due Date Calculator and so on.
Sites related to specific topics
Women’s Health
(http://www.womenshealth.gov/)
The site offered by National Women’s Health Information Center with a vision “All women and girls achieve the best possible health”, is specially dedicated to women. The top trending health topics on this site include Breastfeeding, Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), Menstruation, HIV and AIDS, Lupus, Pregnancy, Iron-deficiency, anemia, thyroid disease, heart disease and stroke.
Cancer Related
Sites offering cancer-related information are The American Cancer Society (cancer.org), National Cancer Institute (cancer.gov), Association of Cancer Online Resources (acor.org) and Cancer Care (cancercare.org).
Heart disease
Sites offering heart disease-related information are American Heart Association (americanheart.org), National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (www.nhlbi.nih.gov) and Congenital Heart Information Network (tchin.org).
Diabetes
Sites offering diabetes-related information are American Diabetes Association (diabetes.org), the National Diabetes Education Program (ndep.nih.gov), Joslin Diabetes Center (www.joslin.harvard.edu), and Diabetes Monitor (diabetesmonitor.com).
Alzheimer’s disease
Sites offering Alzheimer’s disease-related information are Alzheimer’s Association (alz.org), Fisher Center for Alzheimer’s Research Foundation (alzinfo.org), and Alzheimers.gov (Alzheimers.gov).
You can also see thousands of information online by searching on a search engine. But the reliable content is especially important for this type of topics. University and medical school’s have there owned websites, with web addresses ending in .edu. You can easily find such sites online by analyzing the domain and look for the web addresses ending in .edu. There are some well-known and trusted health websites from not-for-profit groups that focus on research and teaching the public about specific diseases or conditions. You can easily identify such websites by domain, as they end in .org. Anyone can register such a ‘.org’ site and now the ‘.org’ the address also used for commercial purpose, check the reliability and authenticity of the website by visiting the about page of the site. Which site are you using to find medical information? Is it reliable? What do you think about such kind of free medical information related websites?
