The Top Ten General Medical Websites

Dr. Ian Smith's Guide to Medical Websites
by Ian K. Smith, M.D.

The amount of medical information available on the Internet is mindboggling, if not mind-numbing. And what do you find once you wade into these cyberwaters is often so contradictory, confusing, or suspect that it is easy to feel more addled than assisted by the plethora of articles, advertising, and medical reports. Dr. Ian Smith's Guide to Medical Websites bring order to this chaos. As medical correspondent on NBC's Today show and a regular columnist for Time, Dr. Smith hears from many people with medical questions. In addition to personally addressing their concerns, he constantly researches medical websites that provide further explanation. This guide reflects Dr. Smith's selections of the top general medical sites as well as the best sites in every medical specialty. Each site listing includes a short summary and ratings that take into account, among other things:

• links and navigability
• sources of content
• interactivity
• frequency of site updates

Now you no longer have to become an Internet search expert to find the information you need in caring for your health and that of those you love.

    About.com
    www.about.com

One of the greatest collections of information on diseases and conditions on the Net. It spans the globe and provides interactive chats and forums for experts and patients to come together. This site not only directs you to outside sources, but also takes each topic and gives you the rundown from top to bottom.

    Best Doctors
    www.bestdoctors.com

The idea behind this site is simple: find the best doctors and provide the best content on a site that others can access free of charge. Founded by a man who was diagnosed with an inoperable tumor and wanted the best doctors to treat him, he set out to empower other patients through information.

    HealthAtoZ.com
    www.healthatoz.com

This is the kind of site that contains so much information that there's little chance you won't find what you're looking for. Not only are the diseases covered extensively, but the interactive tools make your search for information much more enjoyable. Come here to learn, then take advantage of links to other sources to intensify your search for information.

    Healthcommunities.com
    www.healthcommunities.com

This site is specifically designed to give you disease-related information through what it calls channels. It's one of the most interactive medical portals on the Net, offering chats, discussion forums, and clinical trials. This site enables you to access the world of medicine in seconds.

    healthfinder
    www.healthfinder.gov

This government portal opens the world of Internet medicine. Whether it's through tools such as libraries, online journals, or medical dictionaries or hot topics that might interest you, this site delivers quickly and with reliability. A big bonus of the site is that it also provides content in Spanish.

    InteliHealth
    www.intelihealth.com

It's important for a portal to "have it all." This one is a good example. Whether it's drug information, a medical dictionary, or a rundown on a long list of diseases and conditions, Intelihealth is your gateway to top-notch information. It doesn't hurt to have Harvard Medical School's consumer health information tied to the site.

    MedicineNet.com
    www.medicinenet.com

You don't have to be a member to access this deep site of medical information. Other than listing every disease known to man, this site offers a built-in medical dictionary that will help you distinguish between tendons and ligaments and allow you to follow more closely those phrases thrown about on NBC television's hit, ER.

    National Institutes of Health
    www.nih.gov

This is arguably the leading collection of health research institutes in the world. Whether the topic is allergy and infectious disease or cancer, this is your gateway to health information. You'll find the latest in research and well-written fact sheets and brochures that reach out to inform us all.

    National Library of Medicine
    www.nlm.nih.gov

This is the best electronic medical library in the world. It gives you access to the most important research and links to thousands of sites, sending you around the globe for the best information in a matter of seconds. Physical medical libraries, beware-this site could one day put you out of business!

    WebMD
    www.webmd.com

One of the most heavily marketed portals on the Net, this site stands up to most of the hype. It's nicely divided for different audiences, ranging from patients and doctors to physician assistants to health teachers. It has a robust television service that allows you to watch broadcasts on different health topics.

© 2001 by Ian K. Smith, M.D.. Excerpted by permission of AtRandom, a division of Random House, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.

About the Author

Ian Smith, M.D., is a medical/health reporter for NBC's Nightly News and the Today show. He also writes a weekly health column for the New York Daily News and is a medical columnist for Time magazine. Dr. Smith graduated from Harvard University and earned a master's degree in science education from Columbia University. He attended Dartmouth Medical School and the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine. He is also the author of Dr. Ian Smith's Guide to Medical Websites. Dr. Smith lives in Manhattan.