How to Find Legitimite Medical Websites
One of the best and worst things about the Internet is the immediate accessibility to information. Whether you are seeking tips to help you reduce your heating bill, or need some ideas on decorating for a garden wedding, just type your query into a search bar, hit the enter key and you instantly have dozens of webpages at your disposal. You can find a reliable answer to some questions on the first site you visit. But if you need information about medical issues, you naturally want the most trustworthy sources available online.
- Difficulty:
- Moderately Easy
Instructions
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Find the button labeled "Advanced Search" just to the right of the Google search bar. Click that button, and a search page with several bars will appear. In the top bar, type a key word or phrase pertaining to the medical condition you want to learn about, such as "headache."
The second bar gives you the option of searching for websites containing the exact wording you enter. For example, if you want specific information about migraine headaches, type the phrase "migraine headaches" into the second bar, and the sites that appear when you click the search button will contain that exact phrase.
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Enter the type of site you want to search. Further down on the search page you will see a subheading that says "Need more tools?" The last bar in this section is labeled "search within a site or domain." If you type "edu" your results will be within the college or university websites. Many universities have reliable and in-depth health related articles. The University of Maryland Medical Center is a good example. You can search their site for information on a wide variety of medical conditions and information about available treatments.
Type "gov" into that same bar to search government websites, such as National Institutes of Health, another reputable source.
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Search sites within the "org" domain for organizations dedicated to specific conditions or diseases, such as the American Cancer Society, which also have a wealth of information. Type "org" into the domain search bar to find these websites.
Some medical information sites within the .com domain, such as WebMD and AOL Health have also built a reputation for free reliable health information.
Hospitals, medical clinics and individual doctors frequently post articles about various health issues on their websites. Type the name of your hometown into the top search bar to find local hospital and physician websites.
You might encounter some sites that charge a fee for a personalized report about your medical concern based on information you provide about your symptoms. If you decide to use one of these services, keep in mind that the information you receive is not a substitute for a doctor's diagnosis.
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Tips & Warnings
As any reliable medical website will tell you, the information they provide should never be used in place of a doctor's care, but it can be a valuable tool to help you know what questions to ask when you visit your doctor.
