Better Health & Living: Article: Trustworthy Medical Sites

Issue: September 2008

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Trustworthy Medical Sites

Good sources for comprehensible info

by Eileen Buckholtz

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Not so long ago, you needed to go to a medical library to read the latest medical journals. Today, that same information is available on the Internet, usually written in plain English instead of medical jargon. But not all sites are equally good at translating “medicalese.” The following sites are, and some even offer newsletters or alerts that put the information you need right in your e-mail box.

www.health.harvard.edu You don’t have to go to Harvard Medical School to learn from their doctors. Sign up for the school’s free HEALTHbeat e-newsletter to keep up with the latest findings. One recent issue featured an unusual suggestion for insomniacs—“sleep less”—with tips for progressive muscle relaxation. For a yearly fee, you can subscribe to the site’s in-depth reports on a number of health-related topics.

www.webmd.com/news Read the latest health headlines in WebMD’s newsroom and browse the easy-to-understand articles that offer tips on everything from preventing colon cancer to improving your skin. Sign up for more than 30 weekly or biweekly newsletters on diverse topics, including emotional wellness, weight control, men’s health, and sleeping well.

www.medscape.com This site is geared toward medical professionals, but if you have a rudimentary knowledge of health (and know a little jargon), it’s a valuable resource. It offers clinical overviews of more than 6,000 topics, on-the-spot coverage of medical conferences and meetings, and Medline (the National Institute of Medicine’s searchable research database). There are also 30 specialty sites, featuring the latest news in areas such as cardiology, pediatrics, and oncology, among others. Registration is free; physicians can earn Continuing Medical Education (CME) credits online as well.

www.healthfinder.gov Sponsored by the federal Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, this site provides not only reliable health news but also information you can use to prevent illness and live a healthier life. You can do online checkups (try out the body mass index calculator to see if you need to drop a few pounds) and look for info about drug interactions. Subscribe to Healthfinder’s free health-news alerts and monthly newsletters or select an RSS feed. The site is also available in Spanish.

www.sciencedaily.com This is a Web portal devoted to the latest news in medicine, technology, and science. Its articles are selected from news releases from leading universities and research organizations, and there are links to the original releases. You can read breaking news on the site or have it sent directly to your in-box. The site also reviews the latest health- and science-related books and offers science videos.

www.medicalnewstoday.com Owned by the publisher of Medical News Today, this site is dedicated to providing current health news and is updated with more than 60 articles every day. If you don’t subscribe to medical journals, you can still review many of their findings as well as original articles from the health team at Medical News Today. Sign up for daily alerts on a variety of health topics.

www.nih.gov/news If you really want to be in the know, keep track of the latest press releases from the National Institutes of Health. You can also subscribe to their RSS feed and read it in your news reader. Audio reports on a variety of health issues are available in the site’s MP3 section.

www.google.com/alerts Wouldn’t it be great to have someone search the Web 24/7 for articles and breaking news about your particular health interests—and let you know when they’re published? Google Alerts does just that. The alerts arrive via e-mail with the latest Google results for your particular search terms. You can use them to keep track of news on a particular topic, such as diabetes or heart health. Just enter your search terms—the more specific the better—select the search area (News, Web, Blogs, or Everything), and give an e-mail address. Choose how often you want to be alerted, and you’re ready to go. Just be aware that some items you’ll read may not be reliable, especially news stories.

Eileen Buckholtz is president of Technology Concepts, a Web design and e-marketing company; a professor of e-business for the University of Phoenix Online; and the author of more than a dozen computer books.