Millions of Americans search for health information on the web every year. Whether the health information is needed for personal reasons or for a loved one, millions of health-related web pages are viewed by millions of consumers. Sometimes the information found is just what was needed. Other searches end in frustration or retrieval of inaccurate, even dangerous, information.
This guide outlines the collective wisdom of medical librarians who surf the web every day to discover quality information in support of clinical and scientific decision making by doctors, scientists, and other health practitioners responsible for the nation's health. This guide is supported by the Medical Library Association (MLA), the library organization whose primary purpose is promoting quality information for improved health and whose members were the first to realize that not all health information on the web is credible, timely, or safe.
Evaluating Health Information: Millions of consumers get health information from magazines, TV or the Internet. Some of the information is reliable and up to date; some is not. How can you tell the good from the bad?
First, consider the source. If you use the Web, look for an "about us" page. Check to see who runs the site: Is it a branch of the government, a university, a health organization, a hospital or a business? Focus on quality. Does the site have an editorial board? Is the information reviewed before it is posted? Be skeptical. Things that sound too good to be true often are. You want current, unbiased information based on research.
Understanding Medical Research:
It seems to happen almost every day - you hear about a new result of medical research on television or read about it in the paper. Sometimes the results of one study seem to disagree with the results of another study.
It's important to be critical when reading or listening to reports of new medical findings. Some questions that can help you evaluate.
health information include:
• Was the study in animals or people?
• Does the study include people like you?
• Was it a randomized controlled clinical trial?
• Where was the research done?
• If a new treatment was being tested, were there side effects?
• Who paid for the research?
• Who is reporting the results?
Clinical Trials:
Clinical trials are research studies that test how well new medical approaches work in people. Each study answers scientific questions and tries to find better ways to prevent, screen for, diagnose or treat a disease. Clinical trials may also compare a new treatment to a treatment that is already available.
Every clinical trial has a protocol, or action plan, for conducting the trial. The plan describes what will be done in the study, how it will be conducted, and why each part of the study is necessary. Each study has its own rules about who can participate. Some studies need volunteers with a certain disease. Some need healthy people. Others want just men or just women.
In the United States, an independent committee of physicians, statisticians and members of the community must approve and monitor the protocol. They make sure that the risks are small and are worth the potential benefits.
Healthy Living:
Many factors affect your health. Some you cannot control, such as your genetic makeup or your age. But you can make changes to your lifestyle. By taking steps toward healthy living, you can help reduce your risk of heart disease, cancer, stroke and other serious diseases. For example,
• See your doctor for regular screenings not just when you are sick.
• Maintain a healthy weight.
• Eat a variety of healthy foods, and limit calories and saturated fat.
• Be physically active.
• Control your blood pressure and cholesterol.
• Quit smoking.
• Protect yourself from too much sun.
Health Checkup:
Also called: Annual checkup, Annual physical examination, Routine physical examination
Regular health exams and tests can help find problems before they start. They also can help find problems early, when your chances for treatment and cure are better. Which exams and screenings you need depends on your age, health and family history, and lifestyle choices such as what you eat, how active you are, and whether you smoke.
To make the most of your next check-up, here are some things to do before you go:
• Review your family health history.
Family History:
Your family history includes health information about you and your close relatives. Family history is an important risk factor for problems like heart disease, stroke, diabetes and cancer. A risk factor is anything that increases your chance of getting a disease. The reason a family history can help predict risk is that families share their genes, as well as other factors that affect health, like environment, lifestyles and habits.
Having a family member with a disease raises your risk, but it does not mean that you will definitely get it. Realizing that you are at risk gives you a chance to reduce that risk by following a healthier lifestyle and getting tested as needed.
You can get started by talking to your relatives about their health. Draw a family tree and add the health information. Having copies of medical records and death certificates is also helpful.
Personal Medical Records:
Also called: Electronic Health Records, Patient Health Record, Personal Health Record
You've probably seen your chart at your doctor's office. In fact, you may have charts at several doctors' offices. If you've been in the hospital, you have a chart there, too. To keep track of all this information, it's a good idea to keep your own records.
What kind of information would you put in a personal health record? You could start with
• Your name, birth date, blood type and emergency contact.
• Date of last physical.
• Dates and results of tests and screenings.
• Major illnesses and surgeries, with dates.
• A list of your medicines, dosages and how long you've taken them.
• Any allergies.
• Any chronic diseases.
• Any history of illnesses in your family.
• Find out if you are due for any general screenings or vaccinations.
Immunization:
Also called: Vaccination
Shots may hurt a little... but the diseases they can prevent can hurt a lot more! Immunization shots, or vaccinations, are essential. They protect against things like measles, mumps, rubella, hepatitis B, polio, diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis (whooping cough). Immunizations are important for adults as well as for children Here's why.
Your immune system helps your body fight germs by producing substances to combat them. Once it does, the immune system "remembers" the germ and can fight it again. Vaccines contain germs that have been killed or weakened. When given to a healthy person, the vaccine triggers the immune system to respond and thus build immunity.
Before vaccines, people became immune only by actually getting a disease and surviving it. Immunizations are an easier and less risky way to become immune.
Childhood Immunization:Also called: Shots
Today, children in the United States routinely get vaccines that protect them from more than a dozen diseases such as measles, polio and tetanus. Most of these diseases are now at their lowest levels in history, thanks to years of immunization. Children must get at least some vaccines before they may attend school.
Vaccines help make you immune to serious diseases without getting sick first. Without a vaccine, you must actually get a disease in order to become immune to the germ that causes it. Vaccines work best when they are given at certain ages. For example, children don't receive measles vaccine until they are at least one year old. If it is given earlier it might not work as well. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention publishes a schedule for childhood vaccines.
Although some of the vaccines you receive as a child provide protection for many years, adults need immunizations too.
