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Broad Summaries: Encyclopedic Websites

All the encyclopedic websites listed below are free and aimed mostly at patients. They can be useful for clinicians as well. While generally not as in-depth on diagnosis and therapy as the online textbooks above, these resources may be easier to read and tend provide a broader range of information, like the latest news, ongoing research, support and discussion groups, anatomy atlases, educational videos and medical dictionaries and directories.

Conventional Medicine focus

Medline Plus:
From the National Library of Medicine, this is one of the best patient education resources you will find. It has extensive information on over 750 health-related topics, the latest health news, a comprehensive resource on drugs and supplements, an illustrated medical encyclopedia, interactive patient tutorials, a medical dictionary and directories. One of their most helpful offerings is an extensive list of organizations by health topic that have been pre-screened for quality, authority and accuracy of health content.

Healthfinder:
This resource was developed by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. It has been recognized as the best source for government and nonprofit health and human services information on the Internet, linking to sites from over 1,500 carefully selected health-related organizations. It also offers a medical encyclopedia, drug database and medical directories to locate healthcare providers.

Mayo Clinic:
This is a popular and comprehensive resource for health and medical information that has been reviewed by experts from the Mayo Clinic. Content includes information on diseases and conditions, healthy living guides, Health Tools, Treatment Decision Guides, blogs and podcasts, and an Ask a Specialist feature.

Cleveland Clinic:
This site, produced by the Cleveland Clinic Department of Patient Education and Health Information, offers information on over 900 health topics, podcasts, webcasts, as well as a live chat service Monday through Friday, 10:00 am to 1:30 pm EST (except holidays) where health educators are available to provide general health information and recommendations for web sites.

Familydoctor.org:
This resource, from the American Academy Family Physicians, offers an extensive list of patient handouts on a broad range of health topics, a Smart Health Guide for managing health issues, end of life care and understanding your insurance, as well as a number of Health Tools including one that guides you in assessing various symptoms.

WebMD:
This is a well-known and widely used resource from the commercial sector. It provides comprehensive coverage of health conditions, drugs, assessment of symptoms, screening, risk assessment tools, discussion boards with physicians and fellow patients, personal health records, and directories for healthcare providers and hospitals.

RightHealth:
This is another leading resource from the commercial sector. The site uses Kosmix’s search capability to create an immersive experience on any given topic with an algorithm that retrieves trusted health resources as well as relevent videos, news, online communities and links to related topics all displayed on a single webpage.

OrganizedWisdom: This is a commercial resource that provides a human generated list of recommended links on a comprehensive list of health topic reviews.

Revolution Health:
This is another resource from the commercial sector. It also has comprehensive coverage of health conditions, drugs, assessment of symptoms, screening, risk assessment tools, discussion boards with physicians and fellow patients, personal health records, and directories for healthcare providers and hospitals. In addition consumers can rate their experiences with products, healthcare providers, institutions, etc. It also covers topics in complimentary and alternative medicine, which is the focus of the next section below.

Drugs.com:
Drugs.com is the most comprehensive free encyclopedic resource on drugs, providing information on more than 24,000 prescription drugs and over-the-counter medicines for consumers and professionals. It includes an A-Z list of drugs, drugs listed by condition, a pill identifier, drug interactions checker, medical encyclopedia medical dictionary and community forums.

Complementary and Alternative Medicine focus

National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM):
NCCAM is one of the 27 institutes and centers that make up the National Institutes of Health (NIH) within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. It is the lead agency for scientific research on complementary and alternative medicine (CAM). This resource provides information on CAM therapies and their use in a broad array of conditions, as well as a solid grounding in the principles and background of CAM and how to be an informed consumer.

Medline Plus: Complementary and Alternative Medicine:
This topic review from Medline Plus provides links to a wide array of reliable CAM resources as well as links to other separate topic reviews including on acupuncture, chiropractic and cancer alternative therapies.

Alternative Medicine Foundation:
The Alternative Medicine Foundation is a nonprofit organization that provides information about alternative medicine to the public and health professionals. It offers a wide array of resource guides on alternative medicine modalities that include an introduction, history and a gateway to relevant books, journals, organizations and web resources.

Drugs.com:
Referenced in the section focusing on Conventional Medicine above, this very comprehensive free encyclopedic resource covering information on more than 24,000 drugs is also referenced in this section because it includes information on herbs and supplements used in complementary and alternative medicine.

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Broad Summaries: Encyclopedic Websites

Conventional Medicine focus

Complementary and Alternative Medicine focus