Week 7 - Consumer Health Resources

This assignment was a relief after last week's business adventure!

Health Source - Consumer Edition:

I searched for "basal cell carcinoma" in this database and there were 252 hits.  When I limited the publication dates to 2006-2012, that number shrunk to 105 (which means there's quite a bit of up to date info available on this topic).  The articles were a mix of scholarly and and more consumer friendly.


Medline Plus Discovery Exercise:

1. Look at a few of the links on the main page. What’s in the news column on the right side? Indicate in your blog post what some of the top searches are as listed on the left side of the page.

The top searches are predominantly posted on the right side of the page.  They include: aspirin, asthma, autism, breast cancer, calcium, diabetes, dietary fats and hypertension.  Obviously they are listed in alphabetical order and one click will expand the list beyond "d."

2. Click on tab “Drugs and Supplements” and search for a medication you take or you have seen ads about recently such as Prilosec or Cymbalta. Note the kind of information available.

I clicked on "drugs and supplements" and then on "Herbs and Supplements" and was disappointed that neither of the two supplements I searched for were included (eyebright and triphala). Undaunted, I checked one that I knew had to be there - green tea.  There were two articles available - one from the NIH and the other from the Natural Medicines Comprehensive Database).   Both articles provided quite extensive information. 

4. Click on “Health Topics” and search for the same disease or condition you looked at in Health Source. How does the information in MedlinePlus differ from that in Health Source?

There were 948 hits in response to the search query "basal cell carcinoma" in MedlinePlus.  The first few pages of hits appeared to be more user friendly than what came up in Health Source and are geared towards a "regular" information seeker.

5. Look at the list of videos available by clicking on “Videos and Cool Tools” tab. Pick one video and launch it so you have an idea of what a patron would experience. What did you think of the video?

I watched the video on Carpal Tunnel Syndrome surgery, which was gory enough to make me hope to never need the surgery!  (Actually, it wasn't that gory - I am just squeamish).  For a patient going in to surgery who would like to know exactly what will happen, these videos will be comforting.  For someone who would rather just have a vague idea, this would be way too much!