Consumer Health Information: A Brief Guide
This guide contains links to credible health and medical topic websites, created for the general public, with easy-to-read information for non-medical professionals (lay persons)
Consumer Health
Consumer health information (CHI) is information on health and medical topics available to the general public at the lay person level. Not all information on the web is credible, timely, or accurate. This guide contains consumer health websites with quality information.
How to evaluate Health Information online
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Medline Plus: Guide to Healthy Web SurfingMedline Plus, from the National Library of Medicine, offers links to reliable consumer health resources, and tips to find accurate health information on the web.
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Health Information on the Web from FamiilyDdctor.orgWritten with the layperson in mind by American Academy of Family Physicians, Familydoctor.org highlights things to consider or ask yourself when evaluating consumer health websites.
Levy Library Patient Education Resources
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Levy Library Patient Education GuideInformation on Health Literacy; Levy Library databases with Patient Education handouts, E-books, and more.
MedlinePlus is the National Institutes of Health's Website for patients and their families and friends. Produced by the National Library of Medicine, the world’s largest medical library, it provides information about diseases, conditions, drugs, medical tests, and wellness issues in English, Spanish and other languages. MedlinePlus contains easy-to-read, reliable, health information for the lay person/public.
Online resources
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MedlinePlusNational Institutes of Health's consumer health website. Find information on health conditions, tests, drugs & supplements, genetics, and more.
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Mayo Clinic Diseases and ConditionsEasy to read, comprehensive guides on hundreds of medical conditions.
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FamilyDoctorFamilydoctor.org is operated by the American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP), a national medical organization representing more than 124,900 family doctors, family medicine residents, and medical students.
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Merck Manual: Consumer VersionThousands of topics in all medical fields. Information that is clear and easy to understand on thousands of medical topics, including drugs.
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KidsHealthKidsHealth is part of The Nemours Foundation's Center for Children's Health Media. They provide health information through four difference sections, for parents, for kids, for teens, and for educators.
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NIHSeniorHealth.govDeveloped by the National Institute on Aging (NIA) NIHSeniorHealth makes aging-related health information easily accessible for family members and friends seeking reliable, easy to understand online health information.
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MentalHealth.govMentalHealth.gov provides one-stop access to U.S. government mental health and mental health problems information, resources and websites.
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Medical Tests (MedlinePlus)Learn about medical tests, including what the tests are used for, why a doctor may order a test, how a test will feel, and what the results may mean.
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Lab Tests OnlineLab Tests Online is an award-winning health information web resource designed to help patients and caregivers understand the many lab tests that are a vital part of medical care.
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CDC - How to Quit SmokingCenter for Disease Control (CDC) webpages with tips to help you quit smoking, including tips from former smokers. It’s never too late to quit smoking.
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Drug Use and Addiction (MedlinePlus)The National Institutes of Health's consumer health website with information and links on drug abuse, addiction, substance and alcohol use.
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ClinicalTrials.govClinicalTrials.gov is a Web-based resource that provides patients, their family members, health care professionals, researchers, and the public with easy access to information on publicly and privately supported clinical studies.
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MyHealthFinderFrom the U.S. Dept of Health and Human Services, MyHealthfinder provides personalized recommendations for clinical preventive services, and includes nearly 100 prevention and wellness topics.
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MyPlate.govMyPlate visually represents what and how much to eat from each of the food groups over the course of the day. MyPlate provides recipes and resources to support building healthy and budget-friendly meals and nutrition analysis.
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LGBTQ Health via Center for Disease Control (CDC) ArchiveSearch the CDC Archive for archived LGBTQ health information before 2025. Note that the content on the CDC Archive site is for historical purposes only and is no longer being updated. The information here may be outdated and links may no longer function.
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MedlinePlus Drugs, Herbs and SupplementsLearn about your prescription drugs and over-the-counter medicines. Includes side effects, dosage, special precautions, and more. Search by drug name.
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Merck Manual (consumer version)High quality drug information from the Merck Manual, a popular medical reference resource.
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DailyMedDailyMed is the official provider of FDA label information. The website contains 93427 drug listings as submitted to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
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ConsumerMedSafety.orgConsumerMedSafety.org is provided to you by the Institute for Safe Medication Practices (ISMP). This unique website is designed to help you, the consumer, avoid mistakes when taking medicines.
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BeMedWise.oegBeMedWise Mission: Promote the safe use, storage and disposal of medicines for better health.
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Patients Like MePatientslikeme is a free website where people can share their health data to track their progress and help others.
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SurvivorNetSurvivorNet is a digital platform and streaming network focused on providing support for individuals facing chronic diseases and cancer, while fostering community and guidance. It combines expert-driven educational resources with inspirational content to help patients navigate their health journeys.
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HealthBoardsHealthBoards is a long running is social networking support group website for patient to patient health support. Members post messages to share information and support on a wide range of health issues.
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Smart PatientsSmart Patients is an online community for patients and families affected by a variety of illnesses, from oncology to autoimmune diseases to neurodegenerative diseases and many more.
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DailyStrengthDailyStrength is a is a division of Sharecare, that serves as a social network centered on support groups, where users provide one another with emotional support by discussing their struggles and successes with each other. The site contains online communities that deal with different medical conditions or life challenges.
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Family Caregiver AllianceThe mission of Family Caregiver Alliance is to improve the quality of the life for family caregivers and the people who receive their care.
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Care Giver Action Network (CAN)Caregiver Action Network (CAN) is the nation’s leading family caregiver organization. It works to improve the quality of life for tens of millions of family caregivers.
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Medline PlusMedline Plus offers health information in English, Spanish and Multiple Languages.
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EthnomedEthnoMed is Harborview Medical Center's ethnic medicine website containing medical and cultural information about immigrant and refugee groups. Information is specific to groups in the Seattle area, but much of the cultural and health information is of interest and applicable in other geographic areas.
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SPIRALSPIRAL stands for Selected Patient Information Resources in Asian Languages. SPIRAL is a web resource that connects people to authoritative health information in Asian languages that is freely available on the World Wide Web.
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Health Information TranslationsHealth Information Translations provides education resources in multiple languages for health care professionals and others to use in their communities. Resources are easy to read and culturally appropriate.