Doctor
Voltmann's Guide to Medical Web Sites
prepared by John D. Voltmann MD.
Chautauqua, NY
Medical information is easy to obtain on the internet.You may wish to obtain general background information about maintaining your health, an answer to a specific question such as the symptoms of a specific disease, or the side effects of a particular drug.
Some web sites use common everyday words while others use more scientific terms.
There are web sites for medical information and others for more general information
You can choose a web site according to your needs.
Note: a bit of advice..
If you are a patient, I suggest that you share your questions andinformation with your doctor.
Some of the web sites that I have found particularly useful are listed below. Clicking on the underlined words will take you to that web site.
General or background information
Search engines specifically designed for medical information To find full text medical journals
Sources of information about cancer
There are a number of medical textbooks online .
One used by physicians
in succeeding versions for over a hundred years is
published by Merck Pharmaceutical Company namely The
Merck Manual
How do I use a web site to obtain information ?Many of the medical web sites mentioned below allow you to seek information by an index, table of contents (topics) andsearch engines. (Search engines are special programs which usekeywords to search within the web site retrieving links to pertinent information found in their pages). These allow you to enter words or phrases related to the subject you wish to pursue. Therules of operation may vary somewhat from one search engine to another, buteach will have it's own set of instructions.
For more instruction on using search engines click on:
Effective Use Of Web Search Engines (State of Wisconsin Department of Instruction)
General or background medical information is best obtained from such sites as follows:
Medical Center a page of the Buffalo Freenet -- very good.Virtual Hospital a very fine web site maintained by the University of IowaMedicalCenter
Healthfinder a government web site
Mayo Clinic a well known medical center in Rochester Minnesota
Center for Disease Control and Prevention travel health, medicalstatistics, health information
Medscape a medical web site directed toward the physician and other health care professionals.
For more specific medical information--
I find these useful:
PubMed a search engine of The National Library of Medicine which provides references to over 10 million medical journal articles.HEALTH INFORMATION a page of the National Library of Medicine web site which provides links to several search engines.
Medhunt a search engine of Health On Net Foundation
The National Library of Medicine -- more for the health care professional
Medical Dictionary Online one developed in The UnitedKingdom
Medical Encyclopedia for quick reference
Return to ContentsIs your information reliable ?There are thousands of medical web sites on the internet, however not all are equally reliable. Many of these web sites have been reviewed and ranked by an organization named..
Health On the Net Foundation (a database based in Switzerland).Return to ContentsIf you visit the "Health On the Net" website you will see many other non- certified medical websites.In addition, there are many other medical websites which are of a commercial nature (trying to sell you a product)..beware.
Also there are many discussion groups which may offer other information
some good, some not so good.The American Medical Association web site offers links to various websites of medical information which have been reviewed and the full text of the various publications of the AMA. (Also information about individual doctors)
To look up different drugs, I would suggest the following:
Mayo Clinic a source of drug information
Return to Contents
Medical Journals (free) a web site giving links to several journals indexed to various medical specialties.
Sources of information about cancer
Oncolink a web site of the University of Pennsylvania Cancer Resource--a very broad source of information for the cancer patient --including items such as diet and psychological support.National Cancer Institute a federal government web site giving constantlyupdated information regarding the treatment of cancer. Itis presented in two formats, one for the lay public and the other for the professional health provider.Information about developmental disabilities can be found at--
National Institute of Child and Human Development a search engine for various conditions such as Downs Syndrome, autism , etc. A source of publications which can be downloaded.Web sites of regional medical centers include--
(Chautauqua County New York)
Brooks Memorial , Lake Shore , Westfield Memorial , and WCA
The Resource Center a chapter of the Association for Retarded Children
(Buffalo, New York)
Buffalo, NY Medical Centers and Hospital
scroll to Hospitals and other Health Care (includes Brylin Hospital, Buffalo General, Buffalo
Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Children's Hospital, Erie County Medical Center, Millard Fillmore
Health System, Roswell Park Cancer Institute, Sisters of CharityHospital, and others.)
(Erie Pennsylvania)
Hamot Medical Center
Hamot Medical Center
Saint Vincent Health Center
Saint Vincent Health Center
(Cleveland Ohio)
Cleveland Clinic
Cleveland Clinic
(Rochester, New York)
Strong Memorial Hospital
Strong Memorial Hospital Return to Contents
Good Luck In Your Search
John D. Voltmann MD
November 25 1998Updated March 9 2005
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