Health & Medicine
This guide will help you find information on health and medicine at the Thomas Ford Memorial Library and on the Internet.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I find current magazine or journal articles on medical topics?
Where can I find basic information on medical conditions and diseases?
Where can I find a definition for an unfamiliar medical term?
Where can I read about my prescription drugs?
Where can I find information on nursing homes?
Where can I find information on physicians?
How do I find current magazine or journal articles on medical topics?
The Library subscribes to EBSCO Health Source - Consumer edition, a database of articles from consumer magazines and medical journals on the topics of health and medicine. You are welcome to use this tool to find needed medical topic articles on a computer at the Library or from you home by signing into the database with your Thomas Ford library card number.
The Library also has Medline, a database that indexes and abstracts articles from professional medical journals. The abstract summarize the articles and include some important facts. The Library can request photocopies of the texts of article from other libraries for you.
Many articles on health and medicine can also be found through EBSCO Masterfile Elite, a general news article database, and through the Chicago Tribune database.
Where can I find basic information on medical conditions and diseases?
A good place to find basic information about medical conditions or diseases is in medical guides in the Library reference book collection. These define the conditions, describe their symptoms, and explain common treatments. They also include preventive medicine advice.
The Library has the following guides:
American Medical Association Medical Guide (R 616 Ame)
Current Medical Diagnosis and Treatment (new edition in October)
Mayo Clinic Family Health Book (R 616 May)
Merck Manual of Medical Information (R 616 Mer)
Basic medical information and advice can also be found at these sites on the Internet:
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
FamilyMedicalNet.com Diseases and Conditions
Where can I find a definition for an unfamiliar medical term?
In the Library, the most popular dictionary for medical terms is Dorland's Illustrated Medical Dictionary, which the Library has in its reference collection. (R 610.3)
If you are on the Internet, you may find medical definitions at the following sites:
a href="http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/mplusdictionary.html">Medline Plus Dictionary
Where can I read about my prescription drugs?
The Library keeps several reference guides on prescription drugs always available. These include the following:
The AARP Guide to Pills (R 615.1 AAR)
Consumer Reports Consumer Drug Reference (R 615.1 Con)
Physicians' Desk Reference (R 615.1 Phy)
You can also find prescription drug information online at the following websites:
MayoClinic.com Drugs and Supplements
RxList, the Internet Drug Index
Where can I find information on nursing homes?
Consumer Reports Nursing Home Guide advises readers how to choose nursing homes and points out homes to avoid.
The National Center for Assisted Living gives advice and provides checklists for choosing facilities.
Nursing Home Compare lets you find reports on specific nursing home facilities.
Where can I find information on physicians?
Basic information on physicians is available on the Internet.
The American Board of Medical Specialties maintains a physicians database for which you must register to use. The database verifies names and board certifications. No evaluative information is available.
Doctor Finder from the American Medical Association provides name, degrees attained, hospital affiliations, specialty certification, and contact information for AMA members. Many physicians do not belong to AMA. They may still be listed, but only name, specialty certification, and contact information are included.
The Library keeps copies of the latest "best doctor lists" from Chicago Magazine at the reference desk.
Prepared by Rick Roche, Thomas Ford Memorial Library, September 2007
