Consumer Health

The CDC is the nation’s health protection agency, working 24/7 to protect America from health and safety threats, both foreign and in the U.S. Their website provides health information that protects our nation against expensive and dangerous health threats. The information is organized by categories--diseases and conditions, healthy living, travelers' health, emergency preparedness, and more. It also has an A-Z index to help find information on a topic quickly. The website is available in Spanish.

An NLM resource, DailyMed contains FDA-approved labels (package inserts) included in drug packages for all marketed drugs in the United States. Photos of packages are also available. Note: This resource does not provide pill identification.

Drugs, Herbs, and Supplements is a page on the NLM’s MedlinePlus website, which is a trustworthy source of consumer-focused drug information. It can provide you with information about your prescription drugs and over-the-counter medicines, including side effects, dosage, special precautions, and more. Note: This resource does not provide pill identification.

Familydoctor.org is the American Academy of Family Physician’s consumer website that provides physician-reviewed, easy-to-understand patient education materials. The site includes a medical dictionary, health calculators, and interactive health tools.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s For Consumers page contains timely, reliable health and safety information about food, drugs, medical devices, vaccines, pet food, pet medicine, and more. Information can be viewed by audience, including women, minorities, and patients.

The NLM is the world’s largest biomedical library. Their For the Public page features resources for reliable health information such as MedlinePlus, current health news, and online exhibitions and collections.

Genetics Home Reference provides consumer-friendly information for the general public about the effects of genetic variation on human health. Provided by the NLM, the website is divided into sections on health conditions, genes, chromosomes and mitochondrial DNA, and topical information under the heading “Help Me Understand Genetics.”

KidsHealth is a website that aims to give families the tools and confidence to make the best health choices. It provides separate sections with information for parents, kids, and teens with each of their questions in mind. It also has a section of resources for educators.

Lab Tests Online is a resource designed to help patients and caregivers understand the many lab tests that are a vital part of medical care. Developed by the American Association for Clinical Chemistry, the site contains articles on lab tests, conditions and diseases, screening, patient resources, and lab test news.

Medicare.gov is the official U.S. government site for Medicare, the federal health insurance program for people who are 65 or older, certain younger people with disabilities, and people with end-stage renal disease. Information is written in plain language so that it is easy to understand. Some resources are available in other languages.

Produced by the National Library of Medicine (NLM), this site provides high-quality, easy-to-understand information on everyday locations and situations where you might be exposed to toxic chemicals. This site will help you better understand risks of exposure to chemicals and substances in the environment; potential health effects; and how to protect yourself, your family, and your community. The site also includes sections for key concepts/glossary, community action tools, and educational resources for grades 6-8 science classrooms.

WHO is a global health organization committed to achieving better health for everyone, everywhere. For information on a particular health topic, users should begin with the Health Topics list. Each health topic page provides lists of publications, related sites, links, and other resources such as fact sheets and videos. The website is available in several languages, including Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian, and Spanish.

The NIH Clinical Research Trials and You website is a resource for people who want to learn more about clinical trials. It includes answers to common questions about taking part in a clinical trial as well as personal stories, educational resources, and a glossary of common terms.

Health Smart Virginia provides support to K-12 health and physical education teachers with curriculum and instructional resources for social, emotional, physical, and environmental health. Content is organized by grade level and by topic.

KidsHealth in the Classroom offers educators free health-related lesson plans for Pre-K through 12th grade. Each Teacher's Guide includes discussion questions, classroom activities and extensions, printable handouts, and quizzes and answer keys all aligned to National Health Education Standards.

This online tutorial from the NLM teaches you how to evaluate the health information that you find on the Web.

This guide is presented in three brief sections. The first section, "Getting Started," provides tips on filtering health-related web pages through the health subsets of major search engines and using quality electronic finding tools developed by the U.S. government to do an initial screen of websites for further examination. This section is followed by a set of guidelines developed for evaluating the content of health-related websites. The final section points to other information of interest to consumers searching for health-related information on the web.