Information Literacyfor the Health Science Student

Lesson 2: Where to Begin Your Research

Finding Background Information

As with any type of research, finding background information is essential.

Background information provides you with the keywords and ideas necessary to do proper research on a subject.

Consumer oriented resources afford an excellent point to start your research.

No Lack of Resources

There are so many resources on the Internet it can be overwhelming.

Let’s look at some of the most authoritative and reliable consumer oriented resources you can use for background information.

What is MedlinePlus?MedlinePlus is the National Institutes of Health's Web site for patients, their families and friends.

Produced by the National Library of Medicine, it brings you information about diseases, conditions, and wellness issues in plain language.

You may access the latest medical research or find on-going clinical trials.

An Authoritative Reference Tool

MedlinePlus draw its information from the authoritative consumer health information sources.

1. Federal Food and Drug Administration (FDA)2. Center for Disease Control (CDC)3. National Diabetes Information Clearing House4. The Mayo Clinic5. American Diabetes Association6. American Heart Association7. and more

One Stop ShoppingMedlinePlus offers access to instructional videos, medical dictionaries medical encyclopedias.

Tutorials provide additional instruction on searching for reliable medical information on the Web.

healthfinder.gov

The website healthfinder.gov links to sites designed to educate consumers. Its focus is on preventative medicine and health maintenance.

The site provides you with easy access to free information, meeting the interests and needs of consumers.

Quality Control

Information and sites linked from healthfinder.gov must meet the quality control guidelines laid down by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

This quality control assures that resources linked through healthfinder.gov are authoritative and reliable.

http://healthfinder.gov/aboutus/QualityGuidelines.aspx

Reviewed by Respected Advisors

Respected consultants assemble the information in healthfinder.gov with expertise in related health fields.

Accurate and Current Thinking

Sites selected for inclusion in healthfinder.gov must reflect accurately the current thinking of the scientific community.

Quality Standards

An external site selected for inclusion in healthfinder.gov must adhere to quality standards.

The Health on the Net Foundation Code of Conduct (HONcode) is an example of one of the standards followed.

The Health On the Net Foundation has elaborated the Code of Conduct to help standardize the reliability of medical and health information available on the World-Wide Web.

http://www.hon.ch/HONcode/

Health Topics A to Z

The healthfinder.gov provides an A to Z directory of Web resources on an extensive selection of health topics from the most authoritative sites.

This is not only for government sites. The directory includes non-profit organizations and commercial resources that have met the quality control standards.

Tools

There are several tools on the site with advice to stay healthier.

The myhealthfinder tool recommendations come from the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF), the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), the Bright Futures (BF) Guidelines, and the Institute of Medicine’s (IOM) Committee on Preventive Services for Women.

http://healthfinder.gov/myhealthfinder/

Foodsafety.gov

• FoodSafety.gov is the gateway to food safety information provided by government agencies. The agencies include:• Food Safety and Inspection

Service (FSIS)• U.S. Food and Drug

Administration (FDA)• Centers for Disease Control and

Prevention (CDC)• Unites States Department of

Agriculture (USDA)• Others.

http://www.foodsafety.gov/

A Variety of Information

Provides consumer oriented information on:• Recalls• Food safety• Food Poisoning• Latest News

Your Questions AnsweredWant to know how long you can safely keep meat in the refrigerator? Or how long to boil an egg? How about whether it’s better to use wooden or plastic cutting boards?

Just ask Karen, your guide to expert knowledge on handling and storing food safely and preventing food poisoning.

http://www.foodsafety.gov/experts/askkaren/index.html

U.S. Food and Drug Adminstration

The FDA is responsible for protecting the public health by assuring the safety, efficacy and security of human and veterinary drugs, biological products, medical devices, our nation’s food supply, cosmetics, and products that emit radiation.

Consumer Oriented Information

FDA provides a wide variety of informative information for consumers.

• These include:• Consumer Updates• Consumer Advice• Print Publications• Multiple Language Resources

http://www.fda.gov/ForConsumers/default.htm

Information by Audience

FDA provides information for Children’s Health, Women’s Health, Minority Health, Educators and Student and Patients.

There is even a Animal Health Literacy section.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

CDC works 24/7 to protect America from health, safety and security threats, both foreign and in the U.S.

Whether diseases start at home or abroad, are chronic or acute, curable or preventable, human error or deliberate attack, CDC fights disease and supports communities and citizens to do the same.

http://www.cdc.gov/about/organization/mission.htm/

Health Security

CDC increases the health security of our nation. As the nation’s health protection agency, CDC saves lives and protects people from health threats. To accomplish our mission, CDC conducts critical science and provides health information that protects our nation against expensive and dangerous health threats, and responds when these arise.

http://www.cdc.gov/about/organization/mission.htm/

Categories of InformationThe CDC provides a large selection of information with sections including:

• Diseases and Conditions• Healthy Living• Traveler’s Health• Emergency Preparedness

Statistics

The CDC offers the most complete and authoritative statistical information on health.

Data comes from a variety of government agencies.

Includes a diversity of tools to access the datasets.

http://www.cdc.gov/DataStatistics/

Department of Health and Human Services (HHS)

HHS through it’s many agencies offers informational services for consumers and professionals.

You will find that the resources are both reliable and authoritative.

The organizational chart displays the many offices and agencies of the HHS.

NIH INSTITUTES & CENTERS

Under HHS is the National Institutes of Health.

Posted here are links to the institutes and centers.

You can consult the institutes and centers for information that is reliable and authoritative.

NIH INSTITUTES• National Cancer Institute (NCI) • National Eye Institute (NEI) • National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) • National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI) • National Institute on Aging (NIA) • National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) • National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) • National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases (NIAMS) • National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NIBIB) • Eunice Kennedy Shriver

National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) • National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD) • National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research (NIDCR) • National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK) • National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) • National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS) • National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)• National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities (NIMHD) —• National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) — • National Institute of Nursing Research (NINR) • National Library of Medicine (NLM) NIH CENTERS• Center for Information Technology (CIT) • Center for Scientific Review (CSR) • Fogarty International Center (FIC) • National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM) • National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS)• NIH Clinical Center (CC)

Text from NIH site http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/About/ .

Commercial SitesThere are many excellent commercial websites for consumer health information.

Remember that you can search the most reliable sites through MedlinePlus of healthfinder.gov.

Why Would You Use Google?

With so many reliable and authoritative resources available through the U. S. Government, why would use use Google?

Maybe you’re feeling lucky?

Use reference and consumer oriented information to gather ideas and keywords.

Use the ideas and keywords to formulate a research topic.

Then search for the scholarly information you’ll need to support your research.

A road map to begin.

Beyond Consumer Information

Many of the sites in this lesson provide information that is more in-depth than you might need for background information.

We’ll look at those more deeply as we go through the next lessons.

Next lesson will discuss the periodicals used for health sciences your research.

Do the student activity for this lesson. After that proceed to the next lesson.

Revised Tuesday, February 10, 15