From The Dickinson College Library Wiki
This guide provides links to online resources to support the interdisciplinary Health Studies program at Dickinson College. Some resources are restricted to people currently affiliated with Dickinson. General resources are listed first, followed by resources for areas of focus. Related "Subject Guides" from the college library are referenced. This guide is not intended as a comprehensive list of links. Students are encouraged to consult with the liaison librarian (by appointment) for assistance in finding information on specific topics.
Liaison Librarian: Theresa Arndt, 245-1750. View my liaison profile page.
Health Studies at Dickinson College
CAHWF Class: Best Practices sources
General Sources
Online Reference Sources
A.D.A.M. Medical Encyclopedia English & Spanish versions available. A.D.A.M is written at a level for the general reader, and includes very basic information on diseases and conditions, symptoms, tests, surgeries, etc. It includes many illustrations.
Deciphering Medspeak Glossary of general medical terms. English & Spanish versions available. Specialized glossaries are also available for breast cancer, diabetes, eye diseases, heart disease, HIV-AIDS, and stroke. A list of definitions for shorthand symbols used in writing drug prescriptions is also given.
User's Guide to Finding and Evaluating Health Information on the Web A brief guide from the Medical Library Association with tips for finding reliable health information on the internet, as well as criteria to consider when evaluating the quality of websites.
Evaluating Internet Health Information: A Tutorial A 16 minute audio/visual tutorial on how to evaluate websites. The tutorial walks you through steps of evaluating websites for authority, funding, quality and privacy protection.
Books, Films, Government Publications
Dickinson Library Catalog This online catalog includes all the books, films and government publications owned by the Dickinson College Library.
WorldCat (login may be required) This online catalog includes the books, films, government publications owned by libraries all over the world, including, but not limited to Dickinson College. WorldCat can help you identify books and other materials on a topic beyond what is available at Dickinson. Once identified, you can use the Dickinson Library's Borrow From Other Libraries service to obtain the books. Note: WorldCat is NOT for searching for individual journal articles.
USA.gov The U.S. government's official web portal. Useful for finding U.S. Federal Government websites and publications, including statistical information. Includes a search feature, an A-Z index of federal agencies, and links to state and local information sources.
Government health agencies
Pennsylvania Department of Health Provides information and statistics for the state, including information on public health issues, communicable diseases, minority health, and vital statistics.
(U.S.) Centers for Disease Control
U.S. Department of Health & Human Services
(U.S.) National Institutes of Health "The National Institutes of Health (NIH), a part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, is the primary Federal agency for conducting and supporting medical research." There are 27 institutes and centers including ones focused on cancer, diabetes, aging, alcohol abuse, child health, mental health, environmental health, deafness, bioengineering, etc. Information, publications and statistics are available on the Institutes' websites.
(U.S.) Agency for Healthcare Quality & Research (AHRQ) The mission of the AHRQ is "to improve the quality, safety, efficiency, and effectiveness of health care for all Americans." Toward this end the agency sponsors research and gathers data on medical expenditures, the effectiveness of medical treatments, and the quality of medical care including patient safety.
U.S. Food & Drug Administration
Article & Report Databases
PubMed with Dickinson Links (login may be required) Best version of MEDLINE, the premier biomedical database from the National Library of Medicine. For a more focused search, use the "MeSH Database" to look up search terms and geographical location search options. Use "Limits" (a tab option) as appropriate to narrow broad searches.
Web of Science (login may be required) Included Social Science Citation Index, Science Citation Index, and Biological Abstracts.
Annual Reviews (login may be required)
CINAHL (login may be required) Cumulative Index to Nursing & Allied Health Literature. Includes citations and some full-text for research literature relevant to nursing, biomedicine, health sciences, alternative/complementary medicine, consumer health and 17 allied health disciplines. Includes citations and some full-text for journal articles, monographs, book chapters, standards of practice.
(Conference) PapersFirst (login may be required)
(Conference) Proceedings (login may be required)
Statistics & Data
U.S. National
(U.S.) National Center for Health Statistics
Health, United States An annual report on trends in health statistics from the U.S. Dept. of Health & Human Services. Reports from 1975 to present are available, including charts, as well as Excel tables from 1995 onward.
Centers for Disease Control WONDER Wide-ranging OnLine Data for Epidemiologic Research
Women's Data Center From the not-for-profit Institute for Women's Policy Research.
Dartmouth Atlas of Health Care Using Medicare data, "works to accurately describe how medical resources are distributed and used in the United States. .... Through this analysis, the project has demonstrated glaring variations in how health care is delivered across the United States." For a critique of the Dartmouth Atlas methodology, see: Abelson, R and Harris G. (2010, June 3). Critics Question Study Cited in Health Debate. New York Times. pp. A1.
State
Pennsylvania Bureau of Health Statistics & Research
Pennsylvania State Data Center "The Commonwealth's official source of demographic and economic data."
State Health Facts Statistics compiled for all 50 states on a variety of health topics, insurance, healthcare financing, etc. Allows for viewing of comparative date between states.
International
World Health Organization Statistical Information System
Global Public Health Statistical Sources (selected) from University of Michigan Health Sciences Libraries
Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research (ICPSR) Archive of social science data files for use with statistical software, such as SAS, SPSS, and Stata.
World Bank Health, Nutrition and Population
Guides & Databases for Finding Statistics
Library Research Guide to finding statistics
Finding Health Statistics Online (tutorial)
PubMed with Dickinson Links (login may be required) Add the word "statistics" to your topic search (e.g., asthma AND statistics ) to find journal articles which include statistics.
Consumer Health
CAPHIS Top 100 List: Web Sites You Can Trust
Families USA Advocacy group for healthcare consumers
Health News
Harvard World Health News "...an online news digest from the Center for Health Communication at the Harvard School of Public Health. The site covers critical public health issues from around the world."
Medlineplus Health News Sponsored by the U.S. National Library of Medicine. Links to "health-related news articles from Reuters Health Information and HealthDay, plus the most recent press announcements from major medical organizations."
Wall Street Journal Health Industry News
Kaiser Health News From the Henry J. Kaiser Foundation, "draws from more than 300 news organizations' stories related to health policy. The reports aim to provide objective, balanced and thorough coverage of media reports. .... staff members...excerpt and summarize the most important facts and quotes."
Specialized Health Web Search Engine
Biomedical/Life Sciences
National Human Genome Research Institute
National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI)
Related Library Research Guides
Cultural, Societal, Psychological Aspects
POPLINE International database for finding journal articles; emphasis is on reproductive health issues.
PsycInfo (login may be required)
CulturedMed Bibliographies and links to online resources that discuss health beliefs or ethnographic information about various ethnic groups. All entries are in English.
EthnoMed Information about cultural beliefs, medical issues and other related issues pertinent to the health care of recent immigrants to the U.S., including refugees.
United Nations Mellennium Development Goals Background and updates on these long-range international goals: end poverty & hunger; universal education; gender equality; child health; maternal health; combat HIV/AIDS; environmental sustainability; global partnership.
Medical Spanish
MedlinePlus From the National Library of Medicine. Entire site is mirrored in Spanish and English. Includes a health encyclopedia, articles on specific health topics and drugs, health news, and quality screened web links.
Centros para el Control y la Prevención de Enfermedades (U.S.) Centers for Disease Control Spanish site.
New York Online Access to Health Entire site morrored in Spanish and English. By a cooperative of NY City Libraries, NOAH's mission is to "provide access to high quality full-text consumer health information in English and Spanish that is accurate, timely, relevant and unbiased."
FamilyDoctor.org Spanish version has sections for children's, men's and women's health, and health conditions A-Z. The information is written for health care consumers.
Hispanic Folk Medicine Folk Medicine in Hispanics in the Southwestern United States by Nancy Neff, M.D., Assistant Professor, Department of Community Medicine, Baylor College of Medicine.
Related Library Research Guides
Economics/Policy/Management
Databases for Scholarly Publications
See also Article & Reports section of this guide.
Economics Literature (may require login) Covers all major peer-reviewed journals in the economics, ranging from 1969 to present.
PAIS International (Public Affairs Information Service) (may require login) Provides references to periodicals, books, hearings, reports, gray literature, government publications, Internet resources, and other publications from 120 countries.
Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania Health Care Cost Containment Council
Pennsylvania Medical Society Professional society and advocacy group for Pennsylvania physicians.
Hospital & Healthsystem Association of Pennsylvania Advocacy group for "Pennsylvania acute and specialty care, primary care, subacute care, long-term care, home health, and hospice providers, as well as the patients and communities they serve."
Keystone Research Center Organization "dedicated to using research and collaboration to propose workable policy alternatives."
U.S. Government Agencies
Agency for Healthcare Quality and Research
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services
Health & Human Service - Policies and Regulations
International
World Bank Health, Nutrition and Population Information on World Bank projects, statistics and publications related to nutrition, poverty, reproductive health, communicable diseases (such as AIDS/HIV, tuberculosis, influenza, etc.), environmental health, and other health-related issues.
U.S. not-for-profit & academic organizations
Dartmouth Atlas of Health Care "The Dartmouth Atlas Project works to accurately describe how medical resources are distributed and used in the United States. .... Through this analysis, the project has demonstrated glaring variations in how health care is delivered across the United States." For a critique of the Dartmouth Atlas methodology, see: Abelson, R and Harris G. (2010, June 3). Critics Question Study Cited in Health Debate. New York Times. pp. A1.
Joint Commission Public Policy Initiatives The largest independent accrediting agency of health care organizations. Website includes reports on quality, patient safety, cost containment and other issues affecting hospitals.
Leapfrog Group for Patient Safety "Among other initiatives, Leapfrog works with its employer members to encourage transparency and easy access to health care information as well as rewards for hospitals that have a proven record of high quality care."
Center for Science in the Public Interest Advocacy group for "advocate for nutrition and health, food safety, alcohol policy, and sound science."
Commonwealth Fund A private foundation "that aims to promote a high performing health care system that achieves better access, improved quality, and greater efficiency, particularly for society's most vulnerable, including low-income people, the uninsured, minority Americans, young children, and elderly adults."
Kaiser Family Foundation "...a non-profit, private operating foundation focusing on the major health care issues facing the U.S., as well as the U.S. role in global health policy...a non-partisan source of facts, information, and analysis for policymakers, the media, the health care community, and the public"
MacArthur Research Network on Socioeconomic Status and Health "The mission of the Network on Socioeconomic Status and Health is to enhance our understanding of the mechanisms by which socioeconomic factors affect the health of individuals and their communities. The network’s research agenda is designed to inform both policy and practice: to stimulate additional research in diverse fields, to contribute data to discussions of economic and social policy, and to provide a basis for social and medical interventions that will foster better health among individuals and communities."
Robert Wood Johnson Foundation A private foundation whose stated mission is "to improve the health and health care of all Americans". Provides research grants in these broad areas: Building Human Capital, Childhood Obesity, Health Coverage, Pioneering health care solutions, Public Health, Quality/Equality, Vulnerable populations. Publications arising from foundation grant-funded projects (reports, journal articles, book chapters, etc.) on a wide-range of health issues are available at the website.
Related Library Research Guides
Ethics and Law
Lexis-Nexis Academic Universe MAY REQUIRE LOGIN. This database from the Library provides full-text access to legal, business, medical, and reference information, as well as news transcripts and newspapers.
PAIS International (Public Affairs Information Service) MAY REQUIRE LOGIN. Provides references to periodicals, books, hearings, reports, gray literature, government publications, Internet resources, and other publications from 120 countries.
National Reference Center for Bioethics Literature Provides searchable databases for finding information on bioethics topics, bibliographies on bioethics topics, and a syllabus exchange program for faculty who teach courses on bioethics topics.
National Human Genome Research Institute: Policy & Ethics
NIH Bioethics Resources on the Web
Health Privacy Project Advocacy group "dedicated to raising public awareness of the importance of ensuring health privacy in order to improve health care access and quality, both on an individual and a community level."
National Conference of State Legislatures "a bipartisan organization that serves the legislators and staffs of the nation's 50 states, its commonwealths and territories. NCSL provides research, technical assistance and opportunities for policymakers to exchange ideas on the most pressing state issues. NCSL is an .... advocate for the interests of state governments before Congress and federal agencies."
Environmental and Occupational Health
TOXNET Databases on toxicology, hazardous chemicals, environmental health, and toxic releases.
Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Environmental Health News , "published daily by Environmental Health Sciences, a not-for-profit organization founded in 2002 to help increase public understanding of emerging scientific links between environmental exposures and human health."
Related Library Research Guides
Environmental Studies Subject Guide
Global Health
POPLINE International database for finding journal articles; emphasis is on reproductive health issues.
Pan American Health Organization
Global Health Library Databases of scientific journal articles published in various developing regions of the world that are typically under-represented in major databases.
Against the Odds: Making a Difference in Global Health A multimedia site organized around the themes of Community Health, Action on AIDS, Food for Life, the Legacy of War, Preventing Disease, and Global Collaboration. From the National Library of Medicine.
Related Library Research Guides
Public/Community/Behavioral Health
Databases of Journal Articles
PubMed with Dickinson Links (may require login) NOTE: for articles on best-practices and reviews of effectiveness of programs, select the "Clinical Queries" link from the list under "PubMed Tools". Use the search box at the top of the page; Systematic Review articles will display in the center column of results.
Evidence-based Public Health terms for searching PubMed List of terms you can add to a PubMed search to help you find research articles on public health.
Web of Knowledge/Science (may require login)
Sociological Abstracts (may require login)
CINAHL (login may be required) Cumulative Index to Nursing & Allied Health Literature. Includes citations and some full-text for research literature relevant to nursing, biomedicine, health sciences, alternative/complementary medicine, consumer health and 17 allied health disciplines. Includes citations and some full-text for journal articles, monographs, book chapters, standards of practice.
Systematic Reviews, Evaluation Studies, Best Practices
PubMed with Dickinson Links (may require login) For articles on best-practices and reviews of effectiveness of programs, click on PubMed "Clinical Queries" under PubMed Tools;use the searchbox; "Systematic Reviews" results will display in the center column.
Health-Evidence.ca "aims to support evidence-informed decision making in public health by providing current [international] research evidence in a searchable online" database
CDC Guide to Community Preventive Services From the U.S. Centers for Disease Control. A site dedicated to answering questions such as: "Which program and policy interventions have been proven effective? Are there effective interventions that are right for my community? What might effective interventions cost; what is the likely return on investment?"
Cochrane Reviews "Cochrane Reviews are systematic assessments of evidence of the effects of healthcare interventions, intended to help people to make informed decisions about health care, their own or someone else's."
MMWR Recommendations & Reports Formal recommendations from the CDC. Search for recommendations on specific topics on the CDC website by adding the word "recommendations" to your keyword search.
Model Practices Database from the National Association of County & City Health Officials (NACCHO), "an online, searchable collection of innovative best practices across public health areas."
Promising Practices Network By the RAND Corporation. "The PPN website features summaries of programs and practices that are proven to improve outcomes for children. All of the information on the site has been screened for scientific rigor, relevance, and clarity."
Healthy People 2020 "Contains about 1,200 objectives in 42 Topic Areas designed to serve as this decades framework for improving the health of all people in the United States."
Links to Databases of Best Practices from the Community Toolbox a service of the Work Group for Community Health and Development at the University of Kansas.
Special Populations
See sections of this guide on "Women's Health" and "Cultural, Societal, Psychological Aspects".
Public Health Information Guides on the Web
Partners in Information Access for the Public Health Workforce "A collaboration of U.S. government agencies, public health organizations and health sciences libraries."
Evidence-Based Practice for Public Health from Lamar Soutter Library, University of Massachusetts Medical School
MI-INFO: Informatics for the Public Health Workforce A series of nine online tutorials on finding public health information.
Test & Survey Instruments
Test Reviews Online from Buros Institute of Mental Measurements. A searchable database of "evaluations of the tests, not the actual tests themselves." But helpful for identifying relevant tests.
ETS Test Collection database Searchable database with information on over 25,000 testing instruments from a wide variety of source.
National Health Interview Survey "Questionnaires from the National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) are available for viewing and/or downloading."
APA Testing & Assessment Guide from the American Psychological Association.
Service Learning
Service Learning at Dickinson College
Community-Campus Partnerships for Health (CCPH)
Women's Health
POPLINE International database for finding journal articles; emphasis is on reproductive health issues.
Office on Women's Health a unit of the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services.
Office of Research on Women's Health Part of the (U.S.) National Institutes of Health, this office "serves as a focal point for women's health research at the NIH".
Women's Health Resources Purpose is to provide information and promote research in Women's Health. From the National Library of Medicine Office of Outreach and Special Populations and the National Institutes of Health Office of Research on Women’s Health.
Women's Data Center From the not-for-profit Institute for Women's Policy Research.
Maternal & Child Health Library At Georgetown University..."several databases to collect, manage, and disseminate knowledge about maternal and child health (MCH), with special emphasis on knowledge gained from initiatives and programs supported by the federal Maternal and Child Health Bureau (MCHB), Health Resources and Services Administration, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services."
Our Bodies, Our Blog blog from the publisher of the classic book Our Bodies, Ourselves, a "nonprofit, public interest women’s health education, advocacy, and consulting organization ... [providing] information about health, sexuality and reproduction from a feminist and consumer perspective."
