Need research help and not sure where to turn? Get help from the library via email, chat, and online appointments or stop by one of our reference desks during open hours of operation.
Want to contact your Nursing & Health Sciences Librarian or set up a virtual or F2F appointment with her? Email Debra Smith: smithkak@cod.edu
ANYONE can put information on the Internet. As a health care provider, you must carefully select and evaluate medical/health information before using it to treat patients or letting it influence how you perform your duties.
Use the evaluating sources section of this guide to help you determine the credibility of Web sites. A great final test is to ask yourself, "Would I want myself or someone that I care deeply about to be treated based on this information?" If the answer is "no," don't include such non-credible information in your academic projects either!
American Academy of Professional Coders (AAPC)
American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA)
Commission on Accreditation for Health Informatics and Information Management (CAHIIM)
Greater Illinois Chapter of HIMSS
Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS)
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
CDC.gov provides users with credible, reliable health information on topics such as: data and statistics; diseases and conditions; emergencies and disasters; environmental health; healthy living; injury, violence and safety; life stages and populations; travelers' health; workplace safety and health; and much more. This site contains information appropriate for adults, teens and kids
MEDLINEplus
Provides access to 900+ health topics, medical encyclopedias and dictionaries, and links to self-help groups, clinical trials, preformulated PubMed searches, lists of hospitals and physicians, health and information in Spanish and other languages. Includes listings of diseases & conditions by body system.
MedScape Reference
An online clinical reference providing in-depth drug & disease information and tools to support clinical decision making. Content is designed for practicing medical professionals and includes diagnostic medical images. Free Registration to MedScape is required. To quickly locate information on a disease or condition, try Googling the word emedicine and your disease/condition (i.e. emedicine pertussis). Once you access the article, login for full content.
Kidshealth
Created by The Nemours Foundation's Center for Children's Health Media, this site offers families accurate, up-to-date, easy-to-understand health information. It has separate content areas for kids, teens, and parents written in an age-specific style
The following websites have been recommended by faculty and the health science librarian as useful for student assignments and professional practice.
Westlaw Next is a comprehensive collection of law-related information resources along with news and business information. It contains information on primary law, analytical materials, litigation insights, case law, core legal reference materials, and much more. Students can find Black's Law Dictionary by going into Westlaw, clicking Secondary Sources on the middle of the screen, and then clicking on Black's Law Dictionary on the right hand side under Related Content.