LEO: Health and Medicine: Free Online Resources

U.S. Government Websites for Medical Information

There are many sources of health information online, but some are far superior to others. These sites by the National Institutes of Health and National Library of Medicine contain authoritative, reliable information for consumers, resesarchers, and medical professionals.

ClinicalTrials.gov
Maintained by the U.S. National Institutes of Health. Registry and results database of publicly and privately supported clinical studies of human participants conducted around the world.
DailyMed
This site, by the National Institutes of Health and National Library of Medicine, provides information about marketed drugs, including medication content and labeling. It is the official provider of FDA (Food and Drug Administration) labeling information.
MedlinePlus
National Institutes of Health's site for consumer health. Provides information about diseases, conditions, and wellness issues using terminology accessible to the general public.
National Center for Biotechnology Information
Information on wide range of biotechnology topics. Includes PubChem, a reference source for bioassays, chemical compounds, and substances, a virtual Bookshelf, and sequences and information for DNA and RNA, Genomes, Genes, Proteins, and others.
National Institutes of Health
U.S. National Agency for medical research.

PubMed
This is a free database with millions of health sciences citations. Some of the articles are freely available, while others you may request through interlibrary loan.

ToxNet
Group of databases maintained by U.S. National Library of Medicine covering chemicals and drugs, diseases and the environment, environmental health, occupational safety and health, poisoning, risk assessment and regulations, and toxicology.
U.S. National Library of Medicine Digital Collections
National Library of Medicine's free online archive of biomedical books and videos. All of the content in Digital Collections is freely available worldwide and, unless otherwise indicated, in the public domain. Documents the history of medicine and public health in the United States.
U.S. National Library of Medicine Digital Projects
Somewhat overlaps with above link, but also includes online exhibitions of historic materials.

International Medical Information

World Health Organization (WHO)
WHO is the directing and coordinating authority for health within the United Nations system. Its website includes worldwide health news, annual detailed health statistics by country, reference information for global health issues, and journals and reports.

Evaluating Online Information

The resources listed here are all available online without a subscription. In the course of your research, you may find other sites on related topics. Here are some things to consider when evaluating whether the information you find is credible.

1. Authority--Who created the site/content? What expertise do they have in the topic?

2. Objectivity--What is the purpose of the site/content (an "About" page can help determine this)? Does it present any bias toward the topic?

3. Accuracy--How does the information correspond to what you already know about the topic? Are sourced cited, and are they reliable?

4. Currency--When was the page created, and when was it last updated?