15 "Must-Have" Resources for Healthcare Providers and Consumers

Do you ever get tired of not knowing where to look to find clinical information you need?

Tired of trying to find your way through google searches and stacks of reference books??

There are so many clinical and medical resources available online for Nurse Practitioners, Physician Assistants, Physicians, Nurses, Patients,..it can be overwhelming. If you are like me, I love when friends and associates share a resource that I will ACTUALLY USE ! Especially one that I can also tell patients to use in a clinical setting to show them examples or pictures of a health problem.

This is a small list of some of the websites and resources I use commonly and have really found valuable in saving time. I know there are many I have left out, but again, I didn't want to overwhelm you with too many to search through.

If you are a healthcare provider or someone who enjoys looking up their own medical information, you will definitely find several resources here that you will find extremely helpful. Please leave any comments or suggestions if you have a source you use regularly for clinical information that you think should be added.

• visualdxhealth.com This is one of my favorite sites, it has visual pictures and graphics for searching and viewing skin problems, diseases, and anatomy. You can search by location, disease, age..is a very useful and interactive tool that is great both for healthcare providers and patients. Visual diagnosis health is a FREE resource (and also have widgets you can put on your site, blog or desktop!).
• icyou.com VERY COOL! healthcare videos on-demand, great for patients and healthcare providers. FIND any health-oriented video you seek from hundreds of certified medical and health professionals, as well as regular people dealing with the same issues you are.
• eatright.org The American dietetic association.The ADA Nutrition Care Manual is a valuable resource providing disease-specific information and evaluation, printable client handouts, calculators that compute BMI/weight range, customization tools and much more.
• healthlinks.net A Worldwide Useful Resource for Healthcare Consumers, Healthcare Providers, and Professionals PROVIDING LINKS to health Services and Products, Alternative Health, Education, Dental and Medical Resources, Hospitals, Employment, Healthcare Publications, Mental Health and Much More! This FREE resource site is to find LINKS for anything you may possibly need.. much easier than doing a web-engine search! It offers a FREE link source for your site and is also a wonderful place to advertise with very cheap ad rates and options. It optimizes ad placements on related sections of the site so OTHERS CAN LINK TO YOU easily or make YOUR search easier if YOU ARE LOOKING for any services or products. Their Directory includes a clinical resource library, forums for discussions, clinical trials, healthcare job placement links for NP's, PA's, RN's, MD's, and many other allied health professionals. Healthlinks offers links and resources also for business owners and entrepreneurs such as logo services, marketing, advertising, and branding for your specialty or business. Very useful to have as a bookmarked favorite! You will certainly find this helpful and time-saving as a resource if you navigate through the site..and its FREE to use!
• uptodate.com UpToDate is an evidence based, peer reviewed medical information and clinical resource site. It is available via the Web, desktop computer, and also has an optional medical mobility software component for PDA and smartphones. It is valuable to help find answers quickly, increase clinical knowledge, and improve patient care. You can use it as a FREE resource, or pay a yearly fee to get more detailed medical information to use as a reference source on your PDA in a clinical practice setting. I love this software and am debating paying the fee for the more extensive database to use on my PDA. I am currently using epocrates, which is detailed below, and have been very pleased with epocrates medical mobility software. I would love feedback from you or anyone you know who has had experience with both epocrates and uptodate for PDA clinical practice use. I cannot provide a personal experience to compare the software as far as one versus the other,but hoping someone will provide their experiences to share. If I receive any feedback on this comparison I will post the information.
• National Center for Complimentary and Alternative Medicine Provides Research-based information on various treatments and conditions. Compares recent studies on complimentary and alternative medicine (CAM) including acupuncture and herbs and relating it to clinical practice. You can use the site as a FREE source, or join for a membership for a yearly fee if you choose. So far I have not needed to join this site. You can find a lot of what you are searching for without paying a fee, but it depends on your specialty and interests. I find most of the medical information and research I need through another paid membership at consumerlab.com, detailed in the list below.
• health.com You will love this one! I use this daily! Great information for patients and all healthcare providers. Offers you a search option within the site for any disease or problem and most recent topics. You will see a section where they list "the most emailed" , "the most popular",etc. You may find that it helps you to understand what the general public is searching for so you can be aware and have your answers ready for them! If you are involved in social networking sites such as facebook or twitter, you may also find many topics interesting enough to want to "share" the link with your friends or followers. I have found this to be a great marketing tool, as well as educational for both myself as a NP and healthcare consumers. It even has list of all the fad diets and an interactive comparison tool, individualized meal plans, quiz's, how to help back pain, fibromyalgia videos, links..full of useful resources and tools. This is a FREE resource. However, if they charged a membership fee...I would definitely pay it!
• consumerlab.com Another favorite! If you have patients coming in with handfuls of vitamins and herbs..here is where you can find the REAL STORY, or the "quality vs.crap" products to know what to recommend safely to avoid getting your butt sued off!. You know that Vitamins, herbs, and other supplements are not regularly tested by any government organization. This reputable company is continuously evaluating nutritional supplements ,vitamins,and various drugs in a laboratory environment. FINALLY..a clinical resource to easily search by brand, ingredients, company, or even disease process!You can actually find out WHICH brand and product is ranked best, what methods are used to test the products, and what is REALLY in a product versus what the label claims. Consumerlab.com contains many articles, recent research findings, warnings and recalls. Some of the data is shocking! You have an option of joining FREE or can join for a small yearly fee to get more research data. I joined for around $30 for 1 year subscription, and has been worth every penny so far!
• epocrates.com Cannot be beat!(I don't think anyway) I have loved this software since Day ONE! I started out with the FREE epocrates RX for my desktop and PDA, and have since upgraded several times. I found that having so much on my PDA in one program would save me and my patients so much time. I now have the essentials deluxe and love it because of the ICD AND CPT codes. The drug formulary search by insurance plan is the best resource I have found for pulling up a patient's specific insurance formulary and knowing what to prescribe, avoiding pharmacy callbacks, saving me time, and saving the patient a lot of money. You get a lot of happy patients when you save them money and show you care enough to be concerned about their ability to afford their medications and treatments. The add-ons available are mostly free and include mobile continuing medical education (CME), BMI, calculators and conversions for medications, IV rates, INR's; screening tools including ADA, DSM-IV, ATP III, CHD risk, lab values, clinical recommended guidelines, clinical updates, medical and peer-approved research, and even compensated clinical market research if you qualify. The newest application software add-on that i find amazing is "epocrates patient snapshot" which integrates with Google Health. The Healthcare Provider is able to monitor self-reported health information by a patient who enters their medical history on Google Health. The patient can enter current blood sugars, blood pressures, weights, or anything pertinent to their condition. I have not had experience with this yet, but if it works as stated it is a brilliant concept for both healthcare consumers and healthcare providers to promote communication and disease stability. Until recently, epocrates had many glitches with blackberry mobile devices. Now this has finally been corrected and blackberry mobile devices can be used just as easily as Windows or Palm devices. Prices range based on the various program software that you choose. Some are FREE including most of the add-ons. The upgraded subscription programs range from $60-$199 for 1 year, or $89-$299 for 2 years. You may want to try the FREE versions and add-ons first and get used to the programs. It takes a while to download and decide which version of medical mobility software you are going to stick with, and then get adjusted to it. You wouldn't want a couple of months worth of a paid subscription to be wasted during your "learning curve". Call the support desk prior to paying for anything and make sure your mobile device is compatible, and check for specials. I receive coupons and newsletter emails for savings codes quite often now and didn't realize this at the time. Hope this helps you if you are considering these programs.
• American Medical News I recently found this a few weeks ago, and have used it more than I realized at the time. It is a NEWS source for anything medical related. You can find the latest breaking stories, follow-ups on older issues, government related medical information, healthcare trends for the USA, political discussions about healthcare problems and universal healthcare proposal updates. It includes headlines for comprehensive articles on recent clinical findings and stories, practice management guidelines and tips, medicare information and supplement plans, practice pearls, EMR, new updated vaccination guidelines, recent epidemics, and a section specific for the uninsured and professional liability insurance. You will find this a valuable resource if you keep up with recent medical news and healthcare issues. You may not use msnbc, reuters, or Time online as often if you are using any of these now. Amednews.com is a good source to find medical and health information quickly and easily all in one source without scrolling through numerous other topics to find what you are looking for. American Medical News is a FREE resource.
• emedicine.com I have not used this site as much as the others, but it has a LOT of great information if you are looking for something you have been unable to find in other resources. For example, you can search by medical specialty and find how to perform a certain procedure. If you have a patient questioning you about details of a surgery, you can find detailed information on that particular surgery to review with the patient. You may find the joint injections interesting, which is listed under " clinical procedures" . It offers information on the newest technology and medical information, as well as current research findings and clinical resources for you and/or your patients. MEDSCAPE and medscapeCME are also in different sections of this site. It offers a very large database to choose from to obtain CME's, discussion forums, and a large resource directory for just about any medical topic you can imagine. You may use this website already or more often than I do. I prefer the other sites I have listed, just a personal preference though, as they are easier to navigate and quicker to find exactly what I am searching for. This is a wonderful resource, but may be a little too large and overwhelming for some. It is FREE, at least for the services I have used it for thus far. I would appreciate your opinions on this if you are a frequent user of medline, medscape, medscapeCME, or emedicine.
• advanceweb.com I have enjoyed this and found it very useful. They have a FREE journal they will send you via regular mail, and/or online email, newsletters with great information and updates. This, when used as a Nurse Practitioner resource, provides practical clinical articles, current medical research, healthcare trends, modern technology in medicine, professional news and both private practice and career guidance for numerous specialties. Advanceweb stays current with healthcare changes and shares useful information. They provide help for a Nurse Practitioner to "stay current" with changing times. Currently, there is an article on the NP homepage which offers tips for social media specifically for nurse practitioners, as well as various columns and discussions on various topics relating to NP's. If you click the direct link from the bullet in the beginning of this paragraph in this section, it will lead you directly to the page on advanceweb for nurse practitioners. However, if you type in the url or go to the homepage for advanceweb.com, it also offers specific sections for any healthcare entity or provider such as therapists, CNA's, PA's, RN's,etc. The home page allows you to choose your specialty and the info you receive is based on what you choose. This is a great FREE resource for anyone involved in healthcare either as a provider or a consumer.
• epill.com You probably will have someone in mind when you look at this site! I had several and wish I had found this earlier, or been the one who invented this! This is a resource for devices that remind you to take your medicine. It offers proven practical solutions for better patient compliance both for patients and peace of mind for caregivers. A few examples of these medicine reminders: pill dispenser, multi-alarm, pill timer, compliance statistics, vitamins, Rx, pills, elder-care, watches, pill organizer, Casio,.. the list goes on and on. You may want to download their catalog in pdf format for later use. I have had several caregivers who have loved these resources. They offer a money-back guarantee on the pill reminders too, so nothing to lose if the patient doesn't like what they order. You may not use it much, or may use it more than you realize. They offer discounts for ordering multiple items. If you have many patients interested, you could order these for them at a cheaper price to save them a few dollars, or either keep these in your office to resell as a 2nd income for yourself. Either way, it is good to know this exists.
• preventdisease.com You may find the "health tools" section on this site a good reference source. It provides a lot of calculations in one place that patients ask about frequently such as BMI, BMR, Target Weight, Body Composition for kids vs.adults, and women vs. men. Also, this section provides blood pressure assessments, blood alcohol estimator, calories burned calculators, calorie and nutrient calculator, conception calculator, disease risk, exercise information, ideal body weight and mass, and even a musculoskeletal atlas. Patients really enjoy looking at this and seeing their scores. You may find yourself referring patients to the website much more than you use it yourself. It offers a membership, however I have never needed to join to get resources. I have been able to find plenty of information without going through the membership section. Patients can choose to join if they wish for more information. For healthcare providers, the membership is not that necessary.
• drugdigest.com DrugDigest is a noncommercial, evidence-based, consumer health and drug information site dedicated to empowering consumers to make informed choices about drugs and treatment options. A drug library is included, along with several interactive tools for patients to keep a list of current medications, drug interaction checkers, safety tips, and drug comparisons. I have found this to be a very good resource, especially for elderly patients, to get information they need and keep up with their medications.

I hope you will find some of these clinical resources very useful whether you are a healthcare provider or a healthcare consumer. There are many more resources available, these are just a few of the ones I have found to be beneficial to me as a Nurse Practitioner and to my patients.

Anything that saves you time is a valuable resource, I hope you will also share any that you have found.

Check back often and I will try to provide you with more valuable information and resources. You may choose to subscribe to the RSS feed so you will be notified in the future when new posts are published. Please share this with others that may find it helpful.

Until next time... Jennifer Butler, FNP