Health Information Web Sites by Therapeutic Category for Healthcare Professionals

Abstract

Objective: To compile and evaluate health information Web sites to aid healthcare professionals in locating information on select therapeutic categories. Data Sources: Therapeutic categories were chosen based on questions that pharmacists may receive in the community and institutional setting for which they might lack adequate resources to answer. Categories included adverse drug reactions, alternative medicine, cardiology, drug dosing in renal failure, drug interactions, foreign drug identification, geriatrics, immunology/vaccines, intravenous stability/compatibility, investigational drugs, oncology, pediatrics, pregnancy/lactation, legal and regulatory, monographs/medication usage evaluations, new drug approvals, shortages, tablet/capsule identification, therapy/therapeutics, and toxicology/poisoning. Web sites were chosen by searching www.google.com , as this search engine currently indexes over 3 billion Web pages. Data Synthesis: Resulting Web sites were reviewed, selected, and evaluated using published criteria to assess the quality of each Web site, focusing on the authorship, disclosure, currency, and content. Conclusions: The top Web sites in each category are presented, with details on their quality rating, sponsor, content, and special features or directions.