Consumer Health: Home

Part of the U.S Department of Health and Human Services, the CDC works to prevent and control disease, injury, and disability. This searchable site is rich in information and colorfully illustrated. Information is also available in Spanish.

Find clear and concise information sheets for common medical concerns and conditions written and reviewed by professionals at the American Academy of Family Physicians. Other helpful features include a medical dictionary, health calculators, a Smart Patient guide, and Spanish translations.

Find information about health, behavior, and development from birth through the teen years. There are articles written specifically for parents, children, and teenagers.

Improve your understanding of the many clinical lab tests that are part of routine care as well as diagnosis and treatment. Find answers to common questions and summaries of tests and explanations of results.

A nonprofit organization committed to clinical practice, education and research, providing expert, whole-person care to everyone who needs healing.

Clinical trials look at new ways to prevent, detect, or treat diseases. The goal of clinical trials is to determine if a new clinical trial or treatment works and is safe. Healthy volunteers participate in order to help others and to move science forward. Find out how to find a clinical trial if you are interested in participating.

Health information from the NIH including understanding medical research and tips for staying healthy.

NORD provides reports in patient-friendly language about more than 1,200 rare diseases along with research and support group information. Free registration allows for two free disease reports in a day.

Regularly updated information on more than 500 medical topics, explaining symptoms, conditions, diseases, medications, and diagnostic procedures.

NCBI's Health resources include databases for use in clinical practice and medical research that contain information about human disease and pathology, including diagnostics and treatments.

Patients have access to this comprehensive database to learn more about medical conditions, management and treatment options, and ways to have a better dialogue with health care providers.

The special words doctors and nurses use can be hard to understand. You may see or hear these words at your doctor’s office, on the Internet, on the radio or TV, or in newspapers or magazines. We call these words “medspeak.”

The Medical Library Association created this page to help you understand what a doctor or nurse tells you. You’ll find tips on how to understand many health words. The terms on this site were created with the help of the Working Group for Health Literacy, Massachusetts Health Sciences Library Network (MAHSLIN)