Databases | Websites

DATABASES

Straightforward ratings for thousands of medical treatments, drugs, and natural medicines.

ConsumerLab.com provides comprehensive information about vitamin, herbal and other supplements, and nutritional products.  The site includes ConsumerLab.com's independent product evaluations, lists of quality-approved brands, product recalls, and safety warnings.  A science-based encyclopedia of natural products is also provided, including a drug-interaction database. ConsumerLab.com is not affiliated with manufacturers of health and nutrition products, and test samples used in product reviews are purchased independently.

Use this database to find articles on: Fitness, Pregnancy, Medicine, Nutrition, Diseases, Public Health, Occupational Health & Safety, Alcohol and Drug Abuse, HMOs, Prescription Drugs, etc. The material contained in this database is intended for informational purposes only.

JAMA's online version provides searchable full text and abstracts for issues from January 1998 to the present. It also includes abstracts for issues January 1975 - December 1997, and table of contents for January 1966 - December 1974. Users can select "Collections" to view articles published in JAMA on various topics.

"Advanced Search" allows users to search multiple journals (over 300) in addition to JAMA.

Information, publications, and data and statistics on a wide variety of health and safety topics.

Information on the Medicare, Medicaid, SCHIP, HIPAA, and other health-related programs, including eligibility, forms, drug plan information, and related resources.

A service of the U.S. National Institutes of Health, ClinicalTrials.gov provides regularly updated information about federally and privately supported clinical research in human volunteers. ClinicalTrials.gov gives you information about a trial's purpose, who may participate, locations, and phone numbers for more details.

Information on the Massachusetts Commonwealth Care Health Insurance Program (Commonwealth Care), which connects eligible Massachusetts residents with approved health plans and helps them pay for them.

Consumer Reports Best Buy Drugs is a public education project of Consumers Union, publisher of Consumer Reports. The website provides consumers and their doctors with information to help guide prescription drug choices–-based on effectiveness, a drug's track record, safety and price.

DIRLINE is the National Library of Medicine's online database containing location and descriptive information about a wide variety of information resources including organizations, research resources, projects, and databases concerned with health and biomedicine. These resources include federal, state, and local government agencies; information and referral centers; professional societies; self-help groups and voluntary associations; academic and research institutions and their programs; information systems and research facilities. Topics include HIV/AIDS, maternal and child health, most diseases and conditions including genetic and other rare diseases, health services research and technology assessment.

Health information for the whole family, from the American Academy of Family Physicians.

FirstGov for Consumers: Health is a one-stop link to federal information resources available online on all aspects of health. "In the Spotlight" section highlights recent health news.

A gateway to government food safety information, with news & safety alerts, consumer advice, information for kids & teens, and other features.

Haz-Map is an occupational health database designed for health and safety professionals and for consumers seeking information about the health effects of exposure to chemicals and biologicals at work. It is one of the products and services made available by the National Library of Medicine's (NLM) Toxicology and Environmental Health Information Program.

Information from textbooks, journal articles, and electronic databases such as NLM's Hazardous Substances Data Bank (HSDB®) is classified and summarized to create the database. HSDB is part of the TOXNET® (http://toxnet.nlm.nih.gov) system of databases related to toxicology and environmental health.

Features include: text search capability, browsing by jobs, diseases, or agents, searching hazardous agents by adverse effects, searching diseases by jobs and findings, and automated searches of TOXNET. Definitions of technical terms are available by selecting hyperlinks to the glossary.

Reviews of news stories that make therapeutic claims about specific health treatments, procedures, investigational drugs or devices, vitamins or nutritional supplements, or diagnostic and screening tests, from the Foundation for Informed Medical Decision-Making.

A service of the National Health Information Center, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, this site links to carefully selected information and Web sites from over 1,500 health-related organizations.

A specialized search engine focusing exclusively on reliable, doctor-vetted information.  Results give related search terms and topics, and include "health maps" to help you visually explore relevant resources.

From the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD), answers to questions about hearing aids, including how hearing aids help, how they work, what to look for when purchasing a hearing aid, and how to take care of a hearing aid. Also available in Spanish.

Comprehensive, up-to-date information on HIV/AIDS treatment, prevention, and policy from the University of California San Francisco School of Medicine.

What's under your kitchen sink, in your garage, in your bathroom, and on the shelves in your laundry room? Learn more about what's in these products, about potential health effects, and about safety and handling. This database from the National Library of Medicine allows you to search by product, ingredient, or health effects.

Created by the Nemours Foundation's Center for Children's Health Media, doctor-approved health information about children from before birth through adolescence. The site has separate areas for kids, teens, and parents, and covers medical, emotional, and developmental issues.

Descriptions of clinical lab tests, as well as related information and clinical research news, from a collaboration of professional societies representing the lab community.

Physician profiles, patient complaint process, a list of disciplinary actions taken by the Board since June 1999, and other consumer information.

Mayo Clinic Health Information's award-winning consumer Web site offers health information, and self-improvement and disease management tools.

Founded by seven of the nation’s leading medical societies, the Medem website provides credible, trusted health information from the nation's medical societies, including patient education and clinical information.

MedlinePlus brings together authoritative information from the National Library of Medicine, the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and other government agencies and health-related organizations. Search or browse over 700 health topics on conditions, diseases and wellness to find articles. MedlinePlus also has extensive information about drugs, an illustrated medical encyclopedia, interactive patient tutorials, and latest health news.

Information on Medicare, including tools for comparing prescription drug plans, finding a doctor, comparing hospitals and home health agencies, eligibility and billing information, and information on planning for long-term care needs.

A service for finding local resources for health-related issues, including hospitals, physicians, nursing homes, support groups, health screening providers and many others.

Merck's online resource library includes The Merck Manual--Second Home Edition, A.D.A.M. Health Illustrated Encyclopedia, Dorland's Illustrated Medical Dictionary, and the PDR^® Family Guide to Over-the-Counter Drugs (Non-Prescription). Browse the world's largest library of 3D medical animations with "Virtual Body Tours," get information on hundreds of medical conditions, scan breaking medical news, and prepare for a visit to your healthcare provider.

For teens, expert information on mental health conditions, including mood disorders, schizophrenia, and anxiety disorders. The site also includes an "Ask the Expert" feature, and contains personal stories from real teens.

Minuteman Health and Human Services Resources is a list of useful internet sites relating to health and related topics, focused on Massachusetts resources.  A Minuteman Network Librarian has developed this list to assist patrons in finding information on health and human services.

From the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the new nutrition pyramid health guide.

Helpful information for individuals and families dealing with mental illness.

From the National Institutes of Health, information on many cancer topics, including cancer types, treatment, support resources, statistics, clinical trials, and research.

Resources on women’s health, from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

The NLM Gateway allows users to search in multiple retrieval systems at the U.S. National Library of Medicine (NLM).  The current Gateway searches MEDLINE/PubMed, OLDMEDLINE, LOCATORplus, MEDLINEplus, DIRLINE, AIDS Meetings, Health Services Research Meetings, Space Life Sciences Meetings, and HSRProj.

One-stop access to U.S. Government avian and pandemic flu information. Managed by the Department of Health and Human Services. News and information on health & safety, planning, research, travel concerns, and more.

Articles on the latest research news in health and medicine, from a wide variety of sources.

An introduction to toxic chemicals and environmental health risks you might encounter in everyday life, in everyday places. From the National Library of Medicine.