I have worked in healthcare (both inpatient and outpatient) settings, and have a master's degree in public health. Here are some authoritative
websites which are free. A few require registration but are otherwise free.
First, here are a number of online health and medical encyclopedias, already vetted by a North American group of librarians. The range of these
resources is enormous, starting with current health news, medical dictionaries, general medical encyclopedias, health information for our elders,
mental health, and audio/video links on health topics, as well as health and medical info in the Russian language, pediatric information, computer
ergonomics and health-related topics, some alternative and complementary medicine information (this one is not in-depth), a tobacco information
database, and most remarkably, the Merck Manual online for free (in English and in several other languages). So here is the mother link to those
databases:
lii.org...
From that same group of librarians, here are scores of other medical databases on specific medical topics:
lii.org...
On that same page, also check out the right-hand sidebar on newly discovered internet resources.
And here is their grouping on over 1,000 health-related topics:
lii.org...
As of 2006, a California-based group of librarians created the following page of links to online health information sources. There are a few
redundant links (such as to MedLine Plus and the Merck Manual), but the descriptions are still very helpful and the remaining links are all new
information. Note on MedLine Plus -- take the MedLine Plus Tour in order to avoid getting overwhelmed by the very in-depth information here.
Especially helpful resources on this list include the NIH Senior Health Link, as well as ToxTown, health care for military veterans, 2 in-depth guides
to alternative and complementary medicine, minority and multilingual health information sites, and my favorite, called "See No Evil: How Internet
Filters Affect the Search for Health Information". So here is the link to the kickoff page for the resources described in this paragraph:
bookmarks.infopeople.org...
Want even more? The PLOS project (Public Library of Science) has been building a PLOM as well (Public Library of Medicine). Here is the link to
their home page:
www.plos.org...
A review of health information resources in North America was complied over the last 5 years by Gary Price, a reference librarian. It is a more
industry-based listing than any of the above resources, but often interesting anyway. Entries of note include top doctors (in certain regions), top
hospitals (ditto), top 200 health insurance companies, the top 50 nursing home chains, and a U.S. News and World Report 2005 list of America's best
hospitals. Just be careful to evaluate the criteria used in each "best of" listing; their criteria may not be your criteria. Here is that link:
www.specialissues.com...
The most effective investigator of the North American health care industry is Sidney Wolfe, MD, who is profiled in the following article:
www.thefreelibrary.com...
As noted in the following Wall Street Journal blog, Dr. Wolfe has joined a committee of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA):
blogs.wsj.com...
Dr. Wolfe has managed the Health Resource Group for decades on the Citizen website, the online consumer resource first organized by Ralph Nader. Be
aware that Wolfe's excellent newsletter Worst Pills/Best Pills is a paid subscription newsletter. Here is the link to the Health Resource Group
main page, which includes quite a number of free resources:
www.citizen.org...
[edit on 1/13/2009 by Uphill]