Research Guides (LibGuides): Freely Available Online Health Information Resources: Finding Health Information for Patients and Caregivers

Finding Reliable Information

MEDLINEPlus Guide to Healthy Web Surfing
Suggestions on how to evaluate the quality of health information online.
Trust It or Trash It?
A tool to help you think critically about the quality of health information.
Community Toolkit for Addressing Health Misinformation
The Surgeon General’s Community Toolkit for Addressing Health Misinformation provides specific guidance and resources for health care providers, educators, librarians, faith leaders, and trusted community members to understand, identify, and stop the spread of health misinformation in their communities.
Health Misinformation Guide
Guide created by the University of Minnesota. Addresses the question: "How do we communicate about reliable health information in a fluctuating information landscape?"

Online Health Information

Health and Disease Information

MedlinePlus
The National Institutes of Health's Web site for information about diseases, conditions, and wellness issues.
National Institutes of Health: Health Information
Health information from across the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
Center for Disease Control (CDC)
Provides information on current health issues, data & statistics, vaccines, medications, and advances in medicine.
NIDDK Health Information
Information for improving health around weight management, diabetes, kidney disease, and digestive diseases.
National Library of Medicine
The National Library of Medicine (NLM), on the campus of the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland, has been a center of information innovation since its founding in 1836. The world’s largest biomedical library, NLM maintains and makes available a vast print collection and produces electronic information resources on a wide range of topics that are searched billions of times each year by millions of people around the globe. It also supports and conducts research, development, and training in biomedical informatics and health information technology. In addition, the Library coordinates an 8,000+ member Network of the National Library of Medicine that promotes and provides access to health information in communities across the United States.
ClinicalTrials.gov
ClinicalTrials.gov is a database of privately and publicly funded clinical studies conducted around the world.
Nutrition,gov
Nutrition.gov is a USDA-sponsored website that offers credible information to help you make healthful eating choices.
Senior Health Information
Information on health topics specifically for older adults, including Alzheimer's and dementia, health eating, and caregiving from the National Institute of Aging.
AIDSinfo
AIDSinfo offers access to the latest, federally approved HIV/AIDS medical practice guidelines, HIV treatment and prevention clinical trials, and other research information for health care providers, researchers, people affected by HIV/AIDS, and the general public.
Testing.com
A health information web resource designed to help patients and caregivers understand the many lab tests that are a vital part of medical care.

Drug and Supplement Information

DailyMed
The National Library of Medicine (NLM)’s DailyMed searchable database provides the most recent labeling submitted to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) by companies and currently in use (i.e., "in use" labeling). DailyMed contains labeling for prescription and nonprescription drugs for human and animal use, and for additional products such as medical gases, devices, cosmetics, dietary supplements, and medical foods.
Dietary Supplement Label Database
Gives a current overview of individual vitamins, minerals and other dietary supplements
Drugs.com
Drugs.com is the most popular, comprehensive and up-to-date source of drug information online. Providing free, peer-reviewed, accurate and independent data on more than 24,000 prescription drugs, over-the-counter medicines & natural products.
RxList
RxList is an online medical resource dedicated to offering detailed and current pharmaceutical information on brand and generic drugs. Founded by pharmacists in 1995, RxList is the premier Internet Drug Index resource.

Multi-lingual Resources

Health Information in Spanish:

MedlinePlus: Informacion de salud para usted
The entire MedlinePlus website is available in Spanish
Office of Minority Health (Oficina de Salud de Minorias)
The Office of Minority Health is operated by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services provides information on funding, data/statistics, cultural competency, health topics and minority populations and is available in Spanish and other languages.
National Institutes of Health: Temas De Salud
Health information in Spanish from the National Institutes of Health (NIH)

Health Information in a Variety of Languages:

World Health Organization (WHO) Fact Sheets
Information on diseases and health conditions available in Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian, and Spanish
Health Information Translations
This collaborative effort from central Ohio provides plain language health information resources for healthcare professionals and others working in communities where English may not be the primary language.
SPIRAL - Selected Patient Information in Asian Languages
SPIRAL provides access to patient information documents created by non-profit health agencies and organizations.
iSpeak Cards
iSpeak cards, developed by the Washington State Coalition for Language Access, are tools to assist people in requesting the service of an interpreter. You can print these cards, which are available in over 30 languages, and make them available for community members to more easily receive interpretation services in health care settings.
Ethno-med: Translated Nurse-to-Patient Communication Pages
Pages developed with nurses and interpreters to aid caregivers in communicating basic information to their patients. Use of the pages requires no prior knowledge of the patient’s language, but requires that a patient be able to read and point to a written response.
Health Information in Other Languages from MedLinePlus
Information about common diseases and conditions in a variety of languages
AboutKidsHealth
Curated information from The Hospital for Sick Children.

Non-Government Sources of Health Information

Merck Manuals
"First published in 1899 as a small reference book for physicians and pharmacists, the Manual grew in size and scope to become one of the most widely used comprehensive medical resources for professionals and consumers."

Foundations, organizations, and societies often have health information for patients and families.

A few examples are:

Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF) - health resources for people with Type 1 Diabetes and their families
Sickle Cell Disease Foundation - patient information on sickle cell disease
American Heart Association - tips for healthy living as well as information on heart attack and stroke symptoms
American Cancer Society - information on different types of cancer, plus suggestions for healthy choices to reduce the risk of cancer
MedlinePlus's Organization A-Z - A collection of organizations providing health information arranged by topic.

Hospitals and research institutions sometimes have health information for general consumers.