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Searching for Medical Information
National Library of Medicine
There are two excellent free portals to the National Library of Medicine:
Statistics
A tremendous amount of statistical information is available online from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the National Center for Health Statistics, among others.
Search engines
Given the proliferation of search engines, the trick is to find a couple you like and learn their nuances. Some search engines (like Fast Search and Transfer or AltaVista) are great for content; others (like Yahoo) are better for finding Web sites, or people.
National Institutes of Health
Don't overlook the NIH as a source of information for research or for patients. The various institutes offer everything from full-text clinical guidelines to handouts for patients.
Professional societies
Professional societies offer another good source of statistical and clinical information. Some require membership to access the full spectrum of information, others are open sites.
WWW Virtual library
An incredibly helpful Web-wide project is called the World Wide Web Virtual Library. The epidemiology entry provides links to data sources, professional societies, university and hospital sites, as well as newsgroups and mailing lists.
Online journals
A number of journals now have an online presence. Some post full-text articles for free, others make them accessible for subscribers only, and some only offer abstracts. Direct links to several journals are listed below. A librarian at the University of Wisconsin has assembled a great resource for hundreds of online journals. If you are affiliated with Harvard, the Countway Library of Medicine offers electronic access to dozens of journals.
Updated 10/10/07
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