Last week I turned 45. While I still feel like I’m about 30, I know I’m not getting any younger. It also made me realize that I am due for a routine checkup with my doctor. And though I am not in the greatest shape I’m not doing too bad either especially since I don’t have to take any prescribed medications. But when I have, I’ve always wanted to find out as much information about the drug as I can and why I’m taking it. But of course, that’s why I’m a reference librarian!
So, have you ever been to see your family doctor and left the office wanting to know more about the diagnosis you’ve just received? Hopefully your doctor provided you with all of the information you will need to comply with his instructions. If not, or even if you want to learn more, please don’t turn to Google! While Google is still the leading search engine on the Internet, it doesn’t mean that all of the results are reliable.
A simple search for the term “diabetes” returns over 43 million hits! How many of those can possibly be reliable?
A better place to check for health information online is MedlinePlus. The National Library of Medicine created it and their staff of librarians and health professionals chooses the most current, accurate and reliable health information on the web to make your life just a little bit easier. So instead of weeding through the 43 million results on Google you can do one search on MedlinePlus.
MedlinePlus has easy-to-read pages to help you better understand diseases, conditions and your medications. There are interactive tutorials, videos of surgical procedures along with a medical encyclopedia. It’s also a great site if someone in your family has a health related school assignment.
So, please, the next time you need health related information from home, please use MedlinePlus. Also, you can always stop by the Monroeville Public Library and any one of our reference librarians would be thrilled to help you find accurate and reliable information online and in print.
Stay healthy!
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