Before you start looking for information you need to know how to decide what information is reliable, and what information is not. This is even more important when you will be using the information to make health decisions.
See the handout “Is this what I want?” for help evaluating information, or try the following resources online:
A User’s Guide to Finding and Evaluating Health Info on the Web Medical Library Associationhttp://www.mlanet.org/resources/userguide.html Information about finding, evaluating, and understanding health information on the internet. Includes MLA “top ten recommended sites” lists, and links to “real language” definitions of medical terminology.
How to find the most trustworthy health information web sites Canadian Health Network http://www.canadian-health-network.ca/ Choose English or French, then go to Help (just above the search box), then click on “How to find the most trustworthy health information web sites.” It is a “checklist for a great health promotion web site” – a list of questions to help you decide if a site makes a good source for health information or not.
Just the facts ma’am…; A Women’s Guide to Understanding Evidence about Health and Health Carehttp://www.cewh-cesf.ca/PDF/health_reform/evidenceEN.pdf A booklet covering some questions women should ask about health care evidence: Who carries out, funds and benefits from the research? How is the research problem defined? Who and what is counted? What is missing? Who are the “experts”? How does evidence inform health care decisions and health policy? What other factors are at work?
NOAH (New York Online Access to Health) – Understanding and Evaluating Medical Informationhttp://www.noah-health.org/en/ebm/ Information about what Evidence Based Medicine is, evaluating health information, evidence for consumers, patient safety, evaluating medical news, etc.
