Consumer Health Resources

Do you have patients who come to you with Google printouts about their health? Have any of your patients ever mentioned that they “heard about a drug on TV”? Have you ever had a patient push you for the latest experimental treatment available? Do you have any patients with a chronic illness like lupus that requires them to see many specialists?

If you answered “yes” to any of the above, the UC San Diego Biomedical Library Consumer Health wiki can help your patients appreciate you as their most reliable source for health information. Canadian research has shown that Internet use by patients for health information was directly related to their concern for personal health, to the trust they placed in the information available on the site itself, and to the importance given to the opinions of physicians (1).

MedlinePlus

The Consumer Health wiki’s “Starting Point,” MedlinePlus.gov, is an excellent portal for up-to-date, reliable consumer health information from the National Library of Medicine (NLM). It is updated daily, and each health topic is reviewed at least once every six months. Sources include the National Institutes of Health, other government agencies, and nongovernmental organizations (such as the Mayo Clinic or the Patient Education Institute). The external referral sites must have education as their primary objective. The vast majority of health topics also have Spanish-language versions.

MedlinePlus allows users to search or browse. A box near the top permits a search engine-type search. When using this method, a list of search results is returned. All results come from trusted, vetted sites only — not from the Web in general. On the left column are limiters that allow the user to narrow within the results to “Health Topics,” “External Health Links,” “Drugs and Supplements Information,” etc.

Browsing “Health Topics” is the second method of using this site. “Health Topics” links to a page arranged by body location, disorders and conditions, or diagnosis and therapy. Using this entry point, patients can click on “Blood, Heart, and Circulation,” for instance, and then scroll through the list to find the specific topic they are interested in. Sometimes it can be easier to recognize what they were told than to remember what it was called or how to spell it correctly.

“Drugs and Supplements” offers an alphabetical listing by either generic name or brand name. The drugs and supplements information comes from trustworthy sources, from the AHFS Consumer Medication Information (a product of the American Society of Health System Pharmacists) and the Natural Standard, respectively. The “News” link offers health-related news either by date or by topic.

More Drug Information

In addition to the drug information available through MedlinePlus, the UC Consumer Health wiki’s “Drug Information” page links to other useful drug information sources. One of these resources is the NLM Drug Information Portal with patient- and professional-level summaries. The professional “Detailed Summary” offers pre-programmed PubMed searches. The wiki also links to the FDA Consumer Health Information site with health news and recalls or warnings. Common problems such as food allergies and product recalls are posted, as well as information on vaccines, food and nutrition, and even animal health (like pet food recalls). Drugs.com is included on the wiki specifically for the “Interactions Checker,” a good tool for your patients to know about if they are seeing many doctors; and for the “Pill Identifier,” useful in identifying pills found outside of prescription containers. The NIH’s Office of Dietary Supplements link offers background information and research resources related to issues of safety in using supplements.

Other Health Information

The “Other Health Information Tools” page on the wiki includes descriptions and links to ClinicalTrials.gov, which can be searched by condition and city to find the latest experimental treatments. Hospitals can be found using www.calhospitalcompare.org (rated by conditions and procedures that represent 70 percent of hospital admissions in California). Skilled nursing facilities can be located and initially evaluated with ratings tools using www.medicare.gov/NHCompare.

Patients are already searching the Web for health information. It is far better that they get authoritative sources from you, their physician, than from whatever they happen to find on the Internet (2). Some patients have the wisdom to judge websites for themselves, but many Internet users are still novices at identifying quality health information sources.

Refer your patients either to the UC San Diego Biomedical Library Consumer Health Resources wiki or to the National Library of Medicine MedlinePlus site. Your patients will appreciate you for it!

References:

1. Lemire M, Paré G, Sicotte C, et al. Determinants of Internet use as a preferred source of information on personal health. Int J Med Inform. 2008;77:723-734.
2. McMullan M. Patients using the Internet to obtain health information: How this affects the patient-health professional relationship. Patient Educ Couns. 2006;63:24-28.