General Medical Research
1. National Library of Medicine (NLM)
NLM contains the largest collection of health and biomedical related information in the world. Located on the campus of the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland, NLM houses books, journals, and microfilms covering topics ranging from biomedical technology to the social sciences. NLM's extensive collections are online and are available to the public.
- NLM Gateway integrates most of the library's databases so they all may be accessed with a single search. Some categories in NLM Gateway search results include journal articles, citations, books, serials, and audiovisual materials. NLM Gateway is a good search tool for individuals who are new to the NLM system.
- MEDLINE Plus is NLM's consumer friendly Web site that is updated daily and contains information regarding over 600 diseases. It also lists a medical encyclopedia and dictionary, health information in Spanish, prescription drugs, and links to clinical trials.
- MEDLINE/PubMed is NLM's searchable database. It contains abstracts and text from almost 4500 journals. Articles are updated weekly and date back to 1966. Topics cover medicine, nursing dentistry, veterinary medicine, and the health care system. Most articles are from scholarly journals, and access to the information listed on MEDLINE.
- PubMed Central is a digital archive of approximately 75 life sciences journals. Queries may be entered by author name, journal title, or other search terms. This database of journals is available for the public to search.
- Medical Encyclopedia The Adam Health Illustrated Encyclopedia includes over 4,000 articles about diseases, tests, symptoms, injuries, and surgeries. It also contains an extensive library of medical photographs and illustrations.
- The Dictionary feature is a great way to check the spelling of a medical word or its definition.
- DIRLINE is a Directory of Health Organizations including organizations where patients can go for treatment and organizations that provide other types of patient support. DIRLINE's search tool allows the public to search for health organizations by key word and provides toll free numbers.
- LOCATORplus is an online catalog of books, journals, and audiovisuals. This search tool allows the public to complete a simple search by key term and find out where to locate specific articles.
- NIHSeniorHealth provides health information for older adults. This Web site, created in conjunction with the National Institute on Aging (NIA), has a topic index of research, by diseases relevant for older adults.
- TOXNET is a database of research on toxicology, environmental health, and hazardous chemicals. The public may search for information regarding toxins by keyword or term.
2. Healthfinder
Health Finder is a gateway consumer health and human services information Web site from the United States government. It is intended to lead users to selected online publications and medical journals, clearinghouses, databases, Web sites, and support and self-help groups, as well as the government agencies and organizations that produce reliable information for the public. The health library provides links to information (some of which is to the NLM Web site) such as medical dictionaries health and medical journals by journal, medical encyclopedia.
3. American Medical Association (AMA)
The American Medical Association (AMA) library page provides access to scientific journals, news, medical science and education, and many links to other medical sites. It also provides free access to full text E books, such as The Merck Manual of Diagnosis and Treatment medical textbook and more.
4. Journal of the American Medical Associatiom (JAMA)
Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) includes a search feature and a list of which editions of JAMA are available on line (whether full text, abstracts, or index only) under past issues.
5. Medem
Medem is an information partnership of many medical societies, is a communications network designed to facilitate online access to information and care. Research is organized into learning centers and by disease, by phase of life, and by therapy. Learning center topics include pregnancy, living with rheumatoid arthritis, coping with chemotherapy, managing type 2 diabetes, breast cancer, and bleeding disorders and more.
6. Consumer Technology Evaluation Center (TEC) BlueCross BlueShield Association
The Consumer Technology Evaluation Center (TEC) BlueCross BlueShield Association provides information to health care consumers about technologically advanced health care treatments and procedures. This internet resource assists both patients and physicians by explaining new scientific treatments and providing information needed to make informed health care decisions.
7. Permanente Medicine
Permanente Medicineprovides public access to The Permanente Journal, which features articles on clinical practices, research, book reviews, health systems management, and is searchable by topic (the search feature is on the top of each journal Web page). It also allows you access to the Kaiser Permanente Center for Health Research allows you to search its studies.
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