Consumer health information

Overview

The Medicine and Society Collection has a wide range of materials dealing with human biology and medical science, and diseases such as cancer, heart disease, AIDS and genetic disorders. There is also information on the latest developments in medical treatments, health and safety, environmental health and the environment.

Target audience

The collection will mainly be of interest to those members of the general public wishing to find out more about the human body and their health. Health professionals and students will also find the collection of interest.

Available resources

The collection provides books, press cuttings files and videos as well as:

• an extensive range of popular health journals such as 'Here's Health' and 'Women's Health'
• databases such as Health Reference Center and Medline, providing information on a wide range of diseases, symptoms, latest treatments available and self-help groups.

Links

There are a number of useful consumer health information resources available on the Internet. Some of the premier sites in this field are described below.

• Patient UK
  A website set-up by UK doctors to help non-medical consumers find information on health issues.
• Health Scotland
  Health information for members of the public on a variety of topics, provided by NHS Scotland.
• Healthfinder
  A consumer health site provided by the USA government.
• MedlinePlus
  A consumer health information site designed to help the public find resources for their health research, provided by the US National Institutes of Health.

Evaluating the information you find

Irrespective of how you find health information on the internet you should always appraise it critically. Tools to help you achieve this are detailed below.

• QUICK
  Quality Information Checklist - based around a checklist of eight questions, this resource offers a mix of puzzles and quizzes to young people to develop their critical appraisal skills.
• Discern
  A checklist of 15 questions to help the user determine whether the information found is credible, trustworthy and applicable.