Below: Medical information and consumer information | Medical databases | Professional medical resources | Medical reference resources

Medical Information - top online sites

U.S. Food and Drug Administration: Protecting Yourself  - Resource for consumers to help them make better buying decisions when shopping online. Includes information on how to determine if a site is legitimate, how to spot health fraud, and how to report fraudulent sites.

Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality - AHRQ - Provides practical health care information, research findings, and data to help consumers, health providers, health insurers, researchers, and policymakers make informed decisions about health care issues.

American Medical Association Resources for Patients - Includes doctor locator, careers information, patient advocacy, caregiver self-assessment, and health fact files.

Americanhospitals.com - Guide to hospitals, health clinics, medical practices and specialties in the USA, with advice for international visitors.

Center For Medical Consumers - Not for profit, independent organization in the USA, informing and helping to protect members of the public in their encounters with the medical care system.

ConsumerLab.com, LLC - Tests popular nutritional non-prescription supplements to ascertain ingredient quantity and quality.

Dietary Supplement Quality Initiative - Provides information for consumers about issues affecting the quality of dietary supplements, vitamins, minerals, and botanical or herbal products.

Health Hippo - Health law, policy and regulatory materials. Organized deep links to US government health care resources.

HealthySelf - Provides fee-based internet searches on diseases, procedures, treatments (conventional and alternative) and resources.

How to Evaluate Health Information on the Internet - National Cancer Institute's fact sheet helps consumers help decide whether the health information they find on the Internet or receive via e-mail from a Web site is likely to be reliable.

NIH Health Information - Gateway to publications and online resources for consumers and professionals.

Proceed with Caution: A Report on the Quality of Health Information on the Internet - The findings of a large 2001 study that describes and evaluates search engine performance and the quality and readability of health information (in English and Spanish), and provides conclusions and recommendations.

Revolution Health Group LLC - Provides advice and guidance to help individuals manage their health care, with product comparisons, membership plans, and an online store.

Virtual Medical Centre - Physician-written articles on diseases, drugs, symptoms, treatments and lifestyle for men, women and children. Includes interactive videos, medical news, and details of recent research.

Wellness.com - Includes health resources, discussion and news.

Health On the Net Foundation - Guides lay persons and non-medical users and medical practitioners to useful and reliable online medical and health information. Provides leadership in setting ethical standards for Web site developers.

WebMD - Resource for consumers, physicians, nurses, and educators. Includes news, chat forums, health quizzes and consumer product updates.

AOL Health - Find advice, information about diseases and drugs, fitness tips, and news items.

BBC Health - Features current news plus archives, guides by subject, "Ask a Doctor" inquiry feature, a searchable conditions database, message board, and e-mail newsletter subscription.

InteliHealth - Harvard Medical School's consumer health information, journal databases, a medical dictionary, FAQs on latest news and live forums.

Medical databases

MedlinePlus  - Health information from the National Library of Medicine. Easy access to Medline and Health topics, medical dictionaries, directories and publications.

PubMed - National Library of Medicine's medline and pre-medline database.

Cos Medline - A massive database of nearly 80 million records of data on life sciences and biomedical bibliographic information. Subscription required.

Dental Articles Search - Links to citations and full text articles on dental topics plus links to journals on dentistry.

DocuRights - Secure Content Syndication on the Internet for Scientific, Technical and Medical Publishers, Aries Systems Corporation.

Infotrieve - Free Medline search yearwise with full-text document delivery.

Knowledge Finder - Aries System Corporation, provides a search engine for Medline.

Medline on the Web - A webpage that helps to evaluate and compare online Medline services. By William M. Detmer.

Medline Trend - Presents an online query tool for PubMed to establish the annual incidence of a given search phrase.

Medline-Related Resources on the Web - Location of a source for Medline and description of useful resources.

Medscape - Features medical journal articles, images, case reports, medical news, free Medline, CME, and drug searching.

Meva - MedLine Evaluator - Free medico-scientific web service analyzing bibliographic data returned by an inquiry to PubMeds MedLine database. Represents counts and relations of bibliographic fields graphically and can list a MeSH tree.

New Reference - Get e-mail alerts on chosen topics when new citations are added to Medline.

NLM Technical Bulletin - Published by the U.S. National Library of Medicine and the National Institutes of Health.

PaperChase - A search service on Medline and 4 other databases by the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. Subscription based, but a free trial is available.

PubMed Central - NIH repository for peer-reviewed primary research reports in the life sciences. View the full text of articles online.

TDI Library Services, Inc. - Search the free Medline database, then order fulltext documents online.

Professional medical resources

AIS Health Web - Develops targeted news, data and strategic information in hospitals, managed care plans, medical companies and other health organizations.

Amedeo Group - Provides access and help to medical professionals who are publishing information online.

Barar.Org - Provides content management services to Doctors and the Medical Community. Site maintained by Dr. Barer. Post articles, letters, communications; discussion forums, event announcements and proceedings, links, medical blogs, user profiles and private messaging.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Data and Statistics - Links to healthcare data and statistical sources.

Doctor's Guide to the Internet - Has professional and patient editions containing news, medical information and resources.

The Doctor's Lounge - Provides physicians, students and allied professionals with clinical and technical information through multimedia tutorials and study aids. Patients and professionals can discuss medical questions via the message boards.

DrsReference Site - Medical reference site aimed at doctors. Australian site but of worldwide interest. Includes medical publications, medical texts, Medline and conferences.

eMedicine World Medical Library - Directory of free online medical reference textbooks for physicians, medical students, physician assistants, nurse practitioners, nurses and the public. Up-to-date, searchable, peer-reviewed medical journals and textbooks.

European Medicines Agency - EU pharmaceutical regulatory document repository with product information, and guidance for newly licensed formulations for human and veterinary use. Based in London, UK.

Evidence-Based Medicine - University of Massachusetts Medical School site providing tutorials and links to database resources.

Federation of State Medical Boards - National non-profit association with membership consisting of 68 medical licensing authorities in 50 states, the District of Columbia, Guam, Puerto Rico and the U.S Virgin Islands.

Health and Medical Care Archive - Holdings consist of empirical data collected by health care researchers, in universities as well as in public and private agencies.

Health Resource Partners - Connecting the Healthcare Community - An information clearinghouse for professionals and resource for employment, training, education and events.

Health Systems Performance - Offers catalogue of debates surrounding health systems performance and the World Health Report 2000, information on current WHO works, links.

HealthLeaders.com - Medical portal for health professional. Offers news, chat and databases.

Healthlinks - Directory of professional healthcare sites, with a searchable directory, newsletter, forums, chatrooms, continuing education and classified ads.

HealthNet - UK based portal for health care professionals.

Managed Care On-Line - Information resources for professionals involved with managed care.

MDchoice.com - Medical search engine with related information for healthcare professionals. Includes a patient simulator and photo rounds.

Med Center Today - Business information for the academic medicine faculty. Provides context and methods for understanding the unique business aspects of academic medicine.

Medem.com - An e-health network physician web site service.

Med-E-Serv - Australian community for health professionals with accredited online education, professional development, conferences, group collaborations, and useful information.

The Medical Algorithms Project - Contains chapters covering all major medical topics. Provides computation, formula, survey, or look-up tables useful in health care.

Medical Resource Reviews Database - Contains summaries and reviews of electronic medical information resources (Florida International University).

Medic8.com - UK medical portal for healthcare professionals. Offers specialty sites, databases, journals, online textbooks, organizations and jobs.

Mediclass - Medical directory with forum and article submissions. A virtual medical community portal for medical students.

Medsite - Medical search engine and portal for medical and health information.

Mioti - Large list of professionally oriented links.

National Academy of Sciences, Institute of Medicine - The institute provides information and advice concerning health and science policy.

National Health Observation Dates - An alphabetized list of health observation and recognition dates for the health, medical and hospital industry. Dates for both public awareness of healthcare issues as well as recognition dates for healthcare professionals.

NHLBI Health Information Network - Provides email updates to health professionals on National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute's latest research on identifying, assessing, and treating cardiovascular disease, asthma, and sleep disorders.

NSW Health - Health Promotion Branch - Provides on-line access to health promotion information for practitioners, researchers, students and consumers. Includes case studies, contact lists, better practice guidelines, info on new campaigns/research and links to health promotion web sites.

Pam Pohly's Net Guide - Assists health care professionals and administrators in finding pertinent resources, both on and off the internet.

Steps Toward a Universal Patient Record - An online book about how to develop an automated patient medical record that could evolve into a universal patient record.

Timely Topics in Medicine - Interactive medical information in a multicultural, multilanguage setting. Features include access to original articles and case reports, news and multimedia webcasts from major conferences, telesymposia and Medline.

UKMiCentral - Intended principally for healthcare professionals in primary and secondary care. Includes new drugs, prescribing support, guidelines, therapeutics, enquiries, links and a search feature.

WISQUARS - An interactive database system that provides customized reports of injury-related data. Compiled by the CDC's National Center for Injury Prevention and Control.

Medical Reference resources

The National Center for Health Statistics  - Information on births, deaths, ageing, disease classification and other health statistics.

Building Better Health - Medical and healthcare information on disease and health improvement topics. Includes medical news, clinical research and newsletters.

CDC Health Topics A to Z - A listing of disease and health topics from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention in the United States.

Centre for Medical Web Research - A virtual centre for researching medical questions on the internet.

DiagnosisHeart.com - Information on heart disease with surgical data and related resources.

DocMD.com - Provides links to free medical and medically-related sites.

Doctor NDTV - Information on a variety of health issues from medical experts. Includes FAQ.

The Doctors Page - Links to patient education materials, medical reference sites and medical humor.

Health Information Library - Alphabetical listing of health information topics by the Carle Clinic and Hospital.

Healthsites UK - A portal to medical and health information for patients and doctors. Access medical and NHS healthcare sites plus news, advice and complementary therapy resources.

The Homeless Handbook - An online manual designed to assist support workers of homeless and similarly disadvantaged people who find themselves in medically challenging situations.

Library of the National Medical Society - Links to various journals, online diagnosis, medical textbooks and atlases. Subscription required.

Longevity Healthy Aging Research Group - Information from this Canadian organisation on getting older and staying healthy.

MD Consult - Includes reference books, journal search, practice guidelines, patient education and drug information. Subscription required, free trial period.

MedCalc - A collection of online clinical calculators. Includes ABG, GFR, Fluids and BMI calculations and interpretations.

MedConnect - Information services with a clinical and practical focus for physicians and other health care professionals.

Medical Knowledge Base - Offers discussion forums on topics like cancer, AIDS, arthritis, hepatitis, healthy nutrition and motivation.

Medics Travel - Lists hospitals, charities, NGOs and recruitment agencies around the world to help doctors, nurses and medical students plan work and electives overseas.

Mediresource - Information on diseases and conditions, support groups and drug information. Primarily patient-oriented.

Medpedia - A collaborative project aiming to create an online medical encyclopedia made available under a free content license. To qualify to edit the main content, approved editors must have an M.D., D.O., or Ph.D. in a biomedical field.

MedPix - Database of medical images including radiology, pathology, and dermatology. Case of the Week with CME for physicians and CNE for nurses.

The Merck Manual - Online version of The Merck Manual of Diagnosis and Therapy.

MerckMedicus - Links to health resources for patients, professionals and an online medical library.

My Body - Interactive symptom checker, includes details of some possible causes.

NCEMI: Common Simple Emergencies - An online manual with detailed instructions and illustrations on how to treat various everyday medical emergencies.

OHSU Health - Information for patients and clinicians on aspects of healthcare. Includes an index of health topics.

PolyMedicine.com - Clinicians review electronic medical information resources available in any of the following media: browsable WWW sites, downloadable datasets and software or CD-ROMS.

Predictonline - A testing and awareness site to provide the public and healthcare provider with medical information on various medical conditions.

PreventDisease.com - A patient-oriented portal for up-to-date health information on fitness, lifestyle, nutrition and health tools.

RJ's Medical Directory - A collection of medical links and information categorized by specific topics.

South African Health Information - Reviewed, evidence-based health information based on the South African health system.

Talk Medical - Offers information on diseases, disorders, medications, parenting, and pregnancy. Also includes a searchable medical dictionary.

Virtual Naval Hospital - A digital library designed to help primary care providers and to help patients associated with naval medical issues. A service of the U.S. Navy Bureau of Medicine and Surgery.

Virtual Pediatric Hospital - A digital health sciences library at the University of Iowa for health care providers and patients.

Well-Connected - Offering over 100 in-depth reports on physical and mental diseases and wellness issues. Written by medical writers and reviewed by a board at Harvard Medical School. Some information available free but most requires paid access.