Free and reliable consumer health information for patients.

Authoritative consumer health information from the US National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the National Library of Medicine is available from any Internet-accessible computer. These two government agencies jointly sponsor the website MedlinePlus at MedlinePlus.gov. Launched in 1998, the site's information is updated daily and covers more than 700 diseases and conditions. In addition to these health topics, a section on drugs and supplements gives extensive information on brand-name and generic prescriptions, over-the-counter drugs, herbs, and supplements. Medline-Plus also includes a medical encyclopedia of over 4000 articles, a medical dictionary, health news organized by topic and date, multiple directories, and much more. The website can be toggled to Spanish or back to English with one click of the mouse. Health topics can be located in the database by choosing suggestions in an A to Z list, browsing topics in broad health subject groups, or entering a search term. Once a topic has been selected, results are grouped according to types of information, making it easy for the consumer to locate the precise information sought. For example, a searcher looking for information on arrhythmia would have 18 categories of information to choose from, ranging from disease management to genetics (Figure). Using the encyclopedia from this link or directly from the home page, the entry on arrhythmia provides illustrations of the heart and electrocar diogram tracings. It summarizes the diseases in 2 or 3 pages, covering causes, incidence, and risk factors; symptoms; signs and tests; treatment; and other useful information. The date on which the information was updated and the source of the information are provided. Figure A screen shot of information links for arrhythmia from MedlinePlus as of February 2006. Sources for each piece are indicated, and users also have access to local information and interactive tutorials on the right-hand side of the screen. More than 75 ... A link from the MedlinePlus home page offers over 165 interactive tutorials using animated graphics. Consumers can view the slide show and read the text or choose to listen to an audio file of the text being read. Again, there are Spanish and English versions of these helpful lessons. In addition to addressing diseases, the tutorials cover tests and procedures such as amniocentesis, colonoscopy, and coronary angiogram that can help prepare the patients for these procedures. Viewing these lessons helps dispel anxiety by providing needed information on pre and posttest preparation and expectations. Tutorials on operations such as colostomy and coronary artery bypass grafting are also included. For patients seeking more detailed information on operations, MedlinePlus also provides a collection of prerecorded webcasts of surgical procedures. These 1-hour edited videos are actual operations performed at US medical centers since 2004. The surgeries cover a wide range of areas: bones, joints, and muscles; brain and nervous system; cancers; child and teen health; digestive system; ear, nose, and throat; endocrine system; eyes and vision; heart and circulation; kidneys and urinary system; lungs and breathing; men's health; metabolic disorders; pregnancy and reproduction; skin, hair, and nails; transplantation and donation; and women's health. MedlinePlus provides a link to the NIH database of clinical trials (ClinicalTrials.gov). Prospective participants can search for current clinical trials in their geographic location that are relevant to their health condition. A link is also provided from MedlinePlus to the NIH-sponsored website for senior adults (nihSeniorHealth.gov). Under the “Other Resources” tab on the MedlinePlus home page, consumers can use the libraries link to locate consumer health libraries that provide services to local residents either in their own geographic area or near the location of a friend or relative. The libraries link is a great referral tool for those who are not comfortable using electronic resources or would like additional assistance from an information professional. As an added bonus for physicians, the National Library of Medicine has created the Information Rx project to offer tools health care providers can use in their practice to refer patients to reliable, authoritative, current, commercial-free health information on the Internet. These materials can be obtained free from http://www.informationrx.org/. Materials include an information prescription pad that the health care provider can use to write the diagnosis or drug the patient will look up, as well as bookmarks and business cards that contain the MedlinePlus logo and URL. Upon leaving the physician's office with their Information Rx, patients can search MedlinePlus from a home computer or access information from a public or consumer health library computer. The Information Rx project enables practicing physicians to connect their patients to a wealth of reliable health information and empowers patients to seek needed information at their convenience with confidence. Quality guidelines MedlinePlus uses for evaluating links to web pages are listed on their website at http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/criteria.html. A bibliography of scholarly articles about the history and use of MedlinePlus can be viewed at http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/bibliography.html