Managing a CHIS » Reference Resources
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Web Sites You Can Trust: CAPHIS Top 100 List
The Consumer and Patient Health Information Section (CAPHIS) of the Medical Library Association refers healthcare consumers to the following resources. The Medical Library Association and CAPHIS endorse the Criteria for Assessing the Quality of Health Information on the Internet of the Health Summit Working Group. These sites have been reviewed using the HSWG guidelines and other criteria such as outlined in this collection of guidelines.
These criteria include: credibility, sponsorship/authorship, content, audience, currency, disclosure, purpose, links, design, interactivity, and caveats. Health sciences librarians are uniquely qualified, through our training and experience, to evaluate the quality of health-related Web sites. We hope you use evaluative criteria on all health web sites you use.
Well-Written Health Information: A Guide
Published by the Department of Human Services, Victoria (Australia), July 2000. This extremely useful guide includes a checklist to evaluate written consumer health information.
Consumer Health Information Service Subject Headings
from the Consumer Health Information Service of the Toronto Reference Library, 2003
The information contained in the Consumer Health Information Service's subject files is filed alphabetically using Medical Subject Headings (MeSH headings). MeSH headings are in BOLD CAPITAL PRINT. Natural language terms are included for greater ease of use and accessibility to MeSH. Natural language terms are in small print. Natural language terms have "see" cross-references to MeSH terms. Synonyms and related terms are indicated through the use of "see also" cross-references.
TILT: Texas Information Literacy Tutorial
For those of you involved in teaching information literacy, there's a classy new tutorial prepared by the University of Texas. Though prepared for undergrads, the tutorial could be used with consumers, too. The tutorial is especially good at teaching 1) what the Web does and DOES NOT have, and 2) the difference between professional and popular literature. From the introduction: "Information is available from printed books and magazines, as well as from online library databases, electronic magazines, and Web pages. To be "information literate" you need to know why, when, and how to use all of these tools. Advances in communication technologies profoundly changed how we learn about others and share our ideas with them. The invention of the printing press, for example, made books and pamphlets available to a wider range of people than was previously possible. As information circulated more widely it increased people's awareness of the world beyond their small community and -- in some cases -- led to revolutions. Since the Internet may affect people's lives in similarly transformative ways, we have chosen it as the main research topic in TILT."
HealthInfoQuest, Pathfinders to Common Consumer Health Questions
Also, remember the online tutorial developed by the Northwest's own Maureen Carleton and Barb McFadden. HealthInfoQuest has recently been updated to coordinate with the newest version of MedlinePlus.
Medical Resources Information for the Consumer: Helping you Make Informed Decisions
College & Research Libraries News
Vol. 61 No. 11
by Caryl Gray
Resources in Spanish for Consumer Health Information
Información de Salud para los Consumidores en Español
by Sherrie Kline Smith
Consumer Health Information Specialist
San Salvador, El Salvador
klinesmiths@usa.net
January, 2001
Finding it on the Web: A Guide to Finding and Evaluating Health Information on the Internet
Presented by: Carol Aebli
Borgess Library
Borgess Medical Center
Kalamazoo, MI 49048-1666
Revised: October 1, 2002