Middletown Thrall Library: Links 2 Health

Help for Beginners

How To Find Medical Information: A good site from the government's National Institutes for Health describes what kinds of health information can be found online and how to access and review it.

Handbooks & Dictionaries

Merriam Webster Medical Dictionary: Choose between simple and advanced search features.
On-line Medical Dictionary: Definitions of terms in every area of medical science. "Subjects" section helps to find related terms.
Merck Manual Home Edition: Popular medical reference handbook.
Medical Encyclopedia from Medline: Searchable online medical encyclopedia. Search box appears in top left corner.
Lab Tests: A thorough online reference guide to tests prescribed by doctors for health assessment.

Gateway Sites

Open Directory - Web Index for Health: Very well-classified links to 30 categories in the general areas of medicine, diseases, mental health and alternative care with scores of sub-headings for each.
Healthfinder.gov: Government index to health resources. Site description: "Healthfinder can lead you to selected online publications, clearinghouses, databases, web sites, and support and self-help groups, as well as the government agencies and not-for-profit organizations that produce reliable information for the public." Includes information on Medicaid, Medicare publications, fraud and abuse, managed care and contact information.
HealthWeb.org: "HealthWeb provides links to specific, evaluated information resources on the World-Wide Web selected by librarians and information professionals at leading academic medical centers in the Midwest. Selection emphasizes quality information aimed at assisting health care professionals as well as consumers in meeting their health information needs."
Med Web: From the library at Emory University's Health Sciences Center, this site includes links for diseases and conditions, medical specialties, biological sciences. Best to start with "subjects" button for an outline of the many subjects to search.

Comprehensive Sites

Health and Wellness Resource Center: Accessible to current ANSER Library cardholders. Health information from encyclopedias, medical, nursing, and allied health fields journals, and consumer health publications.
Medline Plus: A user friendly version of the National Library of Medicine's Medline with a "carefully selected list of resources."
Combined Health Information Database: CHID is a database produced by health-related agencies of the Federal Government which provides titles, abstracts, and availability information for health information and health education resources.
Mayo Health: Comprehensive health site from the Mayo Clinic. Searchable database with a glossary feature to help spell medical terminology. Information written for a general audience. Mayo doctors and dieticians will answer e-mail questions and users can search the archive of previously asked questions
IntelliHealth: The Harvard Medical School's Consumer Health page. Well-outlined by topic & searchable. Includes definitions, guides, treatments. "Ask the Expert" column is archived for answers to previous questions.
Medicine Net: Consumer health service with extensive sections on diseases and conditions, medical procedures and tests, medications and healthy living.
Net Wellness: A non-profit consumer health site created and evaluated by medical and health faculty at 3 Ohio Universities.
NOAH: New York Online Access to Health: "NOAH seeks to provide high quality full-text health information for consumers that is accurate, timely, relevant and unbiased." Bilingual (English y Espanol). Said to contain over 270,000 pages of information.

Directories

Physicians

AMA Physician Select: Verify credentials by doctor's name or lists of physicians by specialty.
American Board of Medical Specialists: You may register to use this service to verify doctors by specialty.
New York State Physician Profile: "Profiles for all licensed doctors of medicine and doctors of osteopathy who are registered to practice medicine in New York State."
Professional Misconduct and Physician Discipline: By the New York State Department of Health and the New York State Education Department.

Health Insurance

Best Health Plans: As published by US News and World Report
Health Insurance Information for Consumers: Also known as the Health Insurance Resource Center. From the New York State Department of Isurance. "The Health Insurance Resource Center is designed to help consumers make informed decisions when purchasing health insurance for themselves and their families."

Hospitals

Local area hospitals have web sites which describe their facilities, services and staff, as well as support groups, public health programs and links to the HealthGate database of medical articles.

Orange Regional Medical Center

These are nationwide hospital directories:

American Hospital Directory
Best Children's Hospitals: As published by US News and World Report
Best Hospitals Finder: As published by US News and World Report
Hospital Compare: From the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services. The site includes information on hospitals, quality measures, your rights and more. May be searched using zip code, hospital name or other geographic limits.
New York State Hospital Profile: Maintained by the New York State Department of Health, this website provides the following information for each hospital in New York State: Available services, licensed beds, quality of care measures, volumes and types of procedures performed, and contact information. Consumers are able to use the "My Hospital" feature to compare hospitals.

Organizations

Joint Commission on Accredidation of Healthcare Organizations: Standards for each type of healthcare facility and agency. "Quality Check" feature allows a search for evaluations by region.
Medline Plus Organizations List: Lists reliable agencies, national organizations and clearinghouses for information on particular branches of medicine or particular medical conditions or diseases.
DirLine: Organizations which offer education, support and share research on a variety of health topics
Health Grades: An information service for finding doctors, hospitals, nursing homes, clinics & home health providers

Journals

PubMed: A layperson's interface to the massive Medline database of peer-reviewed medical literature
JAMA - The Journal of the American Medical Association: Official JAMA home page. Full text articles archived, back issues (to 1995), health alerts via e-mail.
NLM Gateway: More sophisticated gateway to the research at the National Library of Medicine
New England Journal of Medicine On-line: "A weekly journal reporting the results of important medical research worldwide." Offers searchable back-issues, updates via e-mail, classified ads and more.

Alternative Medicine

About Herbs, Botanicals & Other Products: Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in NYC publishes this directory of herbal and alternative treatments with particular emphasis on their interactions with other treatments and medications.
Alternative & Complementary Medicine Center: Includes a guide to understanding alternative medicine and its branches and practices. Also provides links to professional referral network, discussion forums and resource center.
The Alternative Medicine Homepage Internet Links: From Pitt University, a well-organized set of links on sub-topics like therapies, diseases and conditions, nutrition, herbal medicine, mind-body control and directories and licensing of practitioners.
Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM): Overview of CAM, links to specific conditions and alternative treatments, and more. Provided by MedLinePlus, from the U.S. National Library of Medicine and National Institutes of Health.
Healthfinder: Alternative Medicine: Browse alphabetically by topic by clicking on letters on the web page. From Healthfinder.gov.
National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine: Government site sponsored by the National Institutes for Health has a section describing the domains of complementary and alternative medicine, a frequently asked questions section, and links to extensive research databases especially CAM Citation Index. NCCAM issues reports and a newsletter which are available full-text at the site.
NOAH: Complementary and Alternative Medicine: Topics include: The Basics, Acupuncture, Alexander Technique, Apitherapy, Aromatherapy, Ayurvedic Medicine, Biofeedback, Chiropractic, Craniosacral Therapy, Feldenkrais Method, Herbal Medicine, Homeopathy, Macrobiotics, Magnetic Therapy, Massage, Meditation, Naturopathic Medicine, Probiotics, Prolotherapy, Qi-Gong, Reflexology, Reiki, Therapeutic Touch, Tibetan Medicine, Trager Mentastics, Vitamins, Minerals and Supplements, and Yoga. Provided by New York Online Access to Health (NOAH).

Dentistry

Adult & Pediatric Dentistry: Government site for definitions and background on dental problems and procedures.
Oral Health Resources: From the Academy of General Dentistry an A-Z index of articles on conditions and dental health advice.
Simple Steps to Better Dental Health: From Columbia University, this site details many dental conditions and treatments. Alphabetical listing or searchable by keyword.

Disabilities

The Boulevard: Resource directory of disability products and services for the disabled, elderly, caregiver and healthcare professional.
National Rehabilitation Information Center: Good gateway to data and research on a list of 97 disability categories
Technical Assistance & Dissemination Network: Links to well-described service and research centers for a variety of disability support
ADA Technical Assistance Program: Government agency that provides free information on the Americans With Disabilities Act requirements and compliance requirements
Internet Resources for Special Children: A gateway to information on a variety of physical and mental disabilities, this site was developed by parents of special needs children.

Diseases & Medical Conditions

Gateway Sites

Conditions and Diseases Index from Open Directory

Table of Contents is first divided by type of disease (e.g. respiratory) and then alphabetically by name of condition.

Diseases, Disorders and Related Topics

Search by keyword or scroll through the well-divided categories of diseases to open a list of links for each.

Hardin Meta Directory

RevolutionHealth.com

RevolutionHealth.com is a comprehensive health and medical information site, designed with women and Other caregivers in mind. It offers the best health information, treatment advice and more than 125 online tools. Revolution Health is part of the Revolution LLC family of companies created by Steve Case (AOL).

WebMD Disease & Condition Health Center

Written for the layman, this web site provides a thorough introduction for each condition on a comprehensive alphabetical list.

See also the Comprehensive Sites category.

Specific

AIDS / HIV

Newburgh Free Library: HIV/AIDS Resources: Web links divided into 16 categories such as testing, treatments, statistics or legal information. Also a description of the Newburgh Library's AIDS Information Center of 600 print titles. The NFL catalog listed with their home page link allows searching by subject to discover these print titles.
HIVpositive.com: News and information regarding HIV. Includes a glossary, background on the virus, infections linked to AIDS, prevention, testing, drug advisories, statistics, news, assistance, and caretakers.
AIDS/HIV in New York State
New York City Department of Health - AIDS/HIV Prevention & Services
History of HIV-AIDS: Interactive timeline from 1981 to the present. Easiest to review by selecting "printer friendly version."
Ryan's Internet Cafe: Sponsored by the Catskill Regional Medical Center. HIV Specialty Care Center, The Recovery Center & the Health Info Library, with funding from the National Library of Medicine.The site includes slide shows on HIV/AIDS, mini-documentaries on HIV topics, safe sex questions and answers, and also includes a section on Local Resources, the Ryan White Network Bulletin Board.

Allergies

All Allergy: Clearly divided to navigate quickly, this site is an extensive gateway to research, news, organizations, publications and conferences on the topics of allergy, asthma and "intolerances."
Your Guide to Allergies from The Cleveland Clinic
American Academy of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology: "Fast Facts" and "Public Education Materials" are two good sets of resources shared on this site along with recent news stories, links to support organizations and a patient referral service. A "Just For Kids" section is also posted, written for youngsters to navigate and understand.

Alzheimer's Disease

Alzheimer's Association: This national support organization has organized its website by audience: information for alzheimer's patients, caregivers, health professionals, researchers as well as general introductory information on understanding this disease.
Alzheimer's Disease Education & Referral Center: A searchable site for publications, research and guidance on Alzheimer's Disease. Toll-free hotline or e-mail for direct questions.
The Alzheimer's Page: From the Alzheimer's Disease Research Center at Washington University in St.Louis, Missouri, this page is designed for families struggling with this disease. Extensive caregiver's section as well as research, and a fully indexed archive of the center's listserv discussions since 1994.

Arthritis

The Arthritis Foundation: The Arthritis Foundation is a national health agency that is involved in researching the causes,cures, preventions, and treatments for more than 100 types of arthritis. The website includes tips for living with arthritis, information on juvenile arthritis, and a section on easy-to-use products.

Breast Cancer

Breastcancer.org: Basic information, research news, chat rooms. Also includes 2006 digital Self magazine's breast cancer handbook.
Mayo Clinic: Breast Cancer Center: Nice overview of breast cancer including information on prevention, screening, and treatment.
Medline Plus: Breast Cancer: Directory of excellent links from the National Institute of Health. Includes links to breaking news, videos, patient resources, treatment options and much more.
Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation: Information for patients, survivors and co-survivors.
Y-Me National Breast Cancer Organization: 24-hour hotline, guides to local support groups. Includes section, "My First Steps."

See also the Cancer category.

Cancer

American Cancer Society: Comprehensive site on all aspects of cancer awareness, treatment, researchand up-to-date news.
Johns Hopkins University Cancer Informaion Center: News, scientific reports, clinical trials, FAQ section as well as a good section called "Types of Cancer" which outlines the diagnosis and treatment for a wide variety of cancers.
National Cancer Institute: Good site for news, advice, contacts and a "Science Behind The News" section explaining research in layman's terms.
National Comprehensive Cancer Network: Alliance of leading cancer centers offers news, research, patient guidelines, publications.

See also the Breast Cancer category.

Cardiovascular and Heart Disease

American Heart Association: An A-Z guide to heart disease and stroke; includes a self-test to check risk factors for coronary disease.
Heart Center Online: A patient-centered site with guides for various cardio-vascular conditions. Includes news, illustrated descriptions of conditions, procedures and tests a doctor may perform, how to prepare for visits to specialists and questions to ask, etc. Also includes a Q&A section "Ask a Cordiologist"
Heart Information Network: News on heart health, details on prescribed heart medications, search index for heart specialists, question and answer forum.

Diabetes

American Diabetes Association: Good site for the latest diabetes news & research summaries. It includes message boards, Enewsletters, nutrition & recipes, and information in Spanish.
The Eagle's Nest: A place where kids can learn more about healthy living and diabetes.
Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation International: This site includes information from medical experts, a kids online section featuring pen pals, stories, etc., research news, and clinical trials.
Link for Life: Link for Life, starring Type 2 Lou, is an interactive program on diabetes and cardiovascular disease. It is very informative, including information on diabetes complications, medications, tests, good foods to eat, and it even includes a quiz at the end.
National Diabetes Information Clearinghouse: A complete guide to diabetes care; it includes an introduction, treatments, complications, clinical trials, and information in Spanish.

Infectious Diseases

Mayo Clinic: MRSA: Informative article which includes signs and symptoms, causes, risk factors, treatment and prevention.

Lyme Disease

American Lyme Disease Foundation: This website is dedicated to the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of Lyme disease and other tick-borne infections. The information is written in English and in Spanish.
Time for Lyme, Inc.: A non-profit organization, is a research, education and advocacy network. In collaboration with the Columbia University Medical Center, it opened the First Endowed Lyme Disease Reseach Center in the World.

Pregnancy

MedlinePlus: Pregnancy Information: This MedlinePlus site contains current health information on all aspects of pregnancy. It includes health-check tools, financial issues, journal articles, atlases of the body, medical terms to know, law and policy, physician directories and includes links to other organizations such as the American Pregnancy Association. Some information is available in Spanish.

First Aid

Health Answers - First Aid: Definition of each emergency situation with assessment and treatment guidelines in plain language. Note: Page opens showing only the first two conditions in the long alphabetical listing. Click on "More Articles" to see the rest of the list.
Mayo Clinic First Aid Guide: Over 50 categories of emergency situations/conditions. Dexcribes each life or health-threatening condition and what to do.
Active First Aid Online: Online version of a complete first aid manual.
Pocket Guide to Chemical Hazards: Directory of known hazardous chemicals with description of first aid protocols as well as prevention and protection advice for each.
Poison Control Centers: Nationwide listing, arranged geographically, of poison control centers and 24-hour help hotlines as well as general advice on poison control.
U.S.Navy First Aid Text: The Virtual Naval Hospital shares its illustrated first aid study text online.

Fitness

The Fitness Jumpsite: Searchable, annotated directory of hundreds of fitness, health and nutrition websites. Links to many full-text articles.
Fitness Fundamentals: Guidelines and advice for personal excercise programs from the President's Council on Physical Fitness.
American Council on Excercise: Over 100 "Fit Facts," one to two page information sheets are available on various health and fitness topics.

History of Medicine

A History of Medicine: Research articles about medicine from ancient cultures into the 20th century including information on important medical discoveries.
MedHist: Indexed by topic, era and by person, this database highlights important events inthe history of medicine and health.
Welcome Trust Center for the History of Medicine: This British research center is devoted to the study of the history and development if medicine. Since 1981, the center has also published a journal entitled Medical History.

Medical Ethics / Patient Rights

AMA Council on Ethical & Judicial Affairs: The American Medical Assn. page on medical ethics posts this professional association's principles and codes of conduct. Also defines the elements of a patient-physician relationship and explains how to report ethical violations. Good archive of reports but note that they require the Acrobat Reader viewer.
Health Privacy Project: Includes "Plain English" explanations of individual rights under the Privacy Laws, links to summaries of State health privacy statutes, resources, articles and more user-friendly and understandable.
Patient Issues from Medline: Information on confidentiality, freedom of choice, patient's rights and satisfaction.
Professional Misconduct and Physician Discipline: NY State Health Department's page for finding general information on patient rights and for looking up a doctor's possible misconduct record. Searchable by doctor's name. Monthly newsletter of disciplinary actions.
QuackWatch: "Your Guide to Health Fraud, Quackery, and Intelligent Decisions." Operated by Stephen Barrett, M.D., this site debunks many popular practices and theories. Not a list of unqualified or questionable practitioners. Updated regularly.

Mental Health

AtHealth, Inc.: Information by topic is professionally presented with recommended books and other self help resources. Includes a directory of mental health professionals, treatment centers, and therapies. The newsletter section has links for specific disorders, such as Depression.com and the Schizophenia Homepage.
Dr. Bob's Mental Health Links: A site which lists an exhaustive directory of mental health and behavioral science links. Has a translating feature for searching in 5 different languages.
Encyclopedia of Psychology: A nicely organized gateway site maintained by Jacksonville State University. Biologicial and Environmental Behavior Factors, Theories, History, Resources, Organizations, Publications and Career information.
Internet Mental Health: Award-winning free encyclopedia of mental health information designed by professional psychiatrists, this site specializes in schizophrenia but includes descriptions and diagnoses of most other mental disorders. Information on medications, recent research and an extensive list of links to other professional web sites.
Mental Health America: Includes info in three sections: by audience, by issue, and by disorders and treatments. FAQs are part of the website, as well as a Help section.
Mental Health Infosource: Published by CME, Inc., a company which provides clinical information to physicians, patients and caregivers, this site has an A-Z Disorders Index. The site also supports a question line "Ask The Expert."
National Institute of Mental Health: Provides information on specific mental disorders, diagnosis and treatment. Reports on news and current events and research activities including grant programs.
Psych Central: Moderated by a professional psychologist, this is a directory of mailing lists, newsgroups and chats in areas of mental health. Also charts symptoms and treatments of specific mental disorders and offers self-quizzes on mental health. The author, Dr. John Grohol, published the popular book Insider's Guide to Mental Health Resources in the Thrall Library reference area: Ref 025.0692 Gro
Psychology Self-Help Resources: Georgia Southern University has long maintained this popular online guide to mental health. Extensive links for various mental conditions arranged alphabetically.

News

1st Health News: Health News Headlines from various health news
Centers for Disease Control "Newsroom": From the U.S. government health agency frequent postings of medical news. Includes a weekly influenza report.
CNN (Cable News Network) Health: Daily news summaries with links to full story text. Useful features for conditions, home treatments and a question and answer forum are found by scrolling down the right sidebar to the "Research" section.
Reuters Health: Daily news feed of 25-30 stories in each of three categories for consumers, for health professionals and for the health industry. All articles are given with original sources noted.
Tips for Understanding Popular Medical Information: From the Connecticut Consumer Health Information Network. Sections include: Consumer's Guide to Taking Charge of Medical Information, Deciphering Medspeak, HealthNewsReviews, Interpreting News on Diet and Nutrition, Understanding Risk: What Do Those Headlines Really Mean.
World Health News: From the Harvard School of Public Health this online newsletter is updated weekly on Wednesdays. 50-60 articles per issue on wide variety of health topics.

Nutrition

Dietary Guidelines: Jointly developed by the US Dept of Agriculture and US Dept of Health & Human Services in 2000.
Martindale's Virtual Nutrition Center: Surprising variety of nutritional information including scientific data on food groups, food allergies, food law. labelling and safety, preservation and additives and nutritional recipes from around the world. Also has interesting calculators for body mass, longevity, basal metabolism, calories and fats.
Nutrition Web Site Directory: Posted by the medical college of the University of Iowa, this listing links to excellent databases on nutrition, metabolism and food safety.
American Dietetic Association: The ADA is the world's largest organization of food and nutrition professionals. This site contains Nutrition Resources for consumers, Nutrition Fact Sheets, highlights from the Journal, as well as ADA Position Papers, a Find A Dietician service to locate a registered dietician in your area, and links to related sites.
Weight Control: The National Institutes of Health outlines and reports on various topics on diet and weight control and links to government research and statistics.
Food and Nutrition Information Center: FNIC's mission, since 1971, has been to collect and disseminate information about food and human nutrition.
Tufts Health and Nutrition Letter: From one of the leading universities doing nutrition research, this publication written for the layman shares a two-year archive of its research articles indexed by topic.
Friedman Nutrition Notes: A bi-monthly news service from Tufts University, one of the leaders in nutrition research.

Pharmaceutical Information

Drugs Database - prescription and non-prescription: A web site for drug information arranged alphabetically or by drug category. Also searchable by brand and by medical condition. Includes pill identification feature for finding a drug by its appearance.
Medline Plus Drug Information: From the National Library of Medicine this is an extensive database of over 9,000 prescription medications.
Medications Index from Medicine Net: Information on both prescription and over-the-counter medications searchable by brand or generic name and browsable alphabetically with links to related topics.
NYS Attorney General's Prescription Price Guide: The Attorney General, who oversees fair business practice, has created a website of consumer tips for selecting a source for prescription drugs. By entering a drug name and a location in New York, you can compare recent prices for that prescription.
RxList: While primarily for health care professionals, there is a great deal of solid information to benefit consumers. Extensive information on each drug is available in both English and Spanish in the FAQ section.
University of Miami's Pharmacology and Toxicology Page: Very extensive list of links to internet sites for drug information for every level of researcher from student and general consumer to professional health care practitioner or scientist.
FDA Center for Drug Evaluation and Research: Reports on all the prescription and over-the-counter medications regulated by this government agency.
Herbs and Supplements: The National Library of Medicine links to this site of descriptions of herbal and natural remedies and supplements. This website is published by Natural Standard, an international research consortium.

Research

Clinical Trials: Sponsored by the federal National Institutes of Health, this site's mission is to provide patients, families and the general public information about clinical research studies. Its search function can be focused by disease, treatment, location or sponsor or can be browsed alphabetically by condition or disease.
PubMed: Provides free search service with access to over 10 million citations in MEDLINE & PreMEDLINE with links to participating online journals.
Medscape: Medscape is an "interactive, multi-specialty, commercial Web service for clinicians and consumers." At their site you will find "find thousands of articles that are Web-enhanced for online browsing." Articles may be downloaded. This site claims to have the "Web's largest collection of free, full-text, peer-reviewed clinical medicine articles."
Agency for Health Care Research and Quality: This site is posted by a division of the federal Dept. of Health & Human Services. User may search or browse by topics or review recent health care news for consumers or for clinical practitioners. Includes an archive of past research articles. Shares findings of recent surveys. Offers a Spanish language translation.
American Council on Science and Health: Founded by physicians and scientists in 1978, this consumer education consortium reviews and often challenges published articles on medical topics like disease, nutrition and environment.
Biotechnology: A university medical school's gateway to research on topics such a stem cells, gene therapy, the human genome.




Please Note: Links 2 Health is designed for general informational purposes only and does not offer, suggest, or endorse any health advice or professional medical services. The library cannot control resources on the Internet. Middletown Thrall Library will not be liable for any complications, injuries, or medical accidents arising from or in connection with the use of or reliance upon any information from the Internet. If you need assistance locating health information resources, please visit Thrall or call the Reference Department at 341-5461 or 341-5462 For medical advice you must consult your own physician.		Scroll down to browse or select a section: Help For Beginners Handbooks & Dictionaries Gateway Sites Comprehensive Sites Directories: Physicians Health Insurance Hospitals Organizations Journals Specific Topics: Alternative Medicine Dentistry Disabilities Diseases & Medical Conditions First Aid Fitness History of Medicine Medical Ethics/Patient Rights Mental Health News Nutrition Pharmaceutical Information Research

View select health resources at Middletown Thrall Library Library Patrons: click here for Health and Wellness Resource Center, a searchable full text article database. You will need to enter the barcode from your library card to gain access to the database.

Please Note:

Help for Beginners

Handbooks & Dictionaries

Gateway Sites

Comprehensive Sites

Directories

Physicians

Health Insurance

Hospitals

Organizations

Journals

Alternative Medicine

Dentistry

Disabilities

Diseases & Medical Conditions

Gateway Sites

Specific

First Aid

Fitness

History of Medicine

Medical Ethics / Patient Rights

Mental Health

News

Nutrition

Pharmaceutical Information

Research