Understanding Your Medical Condition

Learn more about your medical condition, the medical procedure or treatment which has been recommended as well as suggestions for the next steps to get the appropriate treatment and care. Listed below are Web sites and resources that will help you learn more about your condition or procedure:

• HealthFinder® (also available in Spanish) – a resource developed by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to provide descriptions of medical conditions and information on causes, risk factors, symptoms, diagnosis, treatment and prevention
• HealthWeb – a collaborative project of health science libraries providing hundreds of health, disease and reference links
• National Library of Medicine – includes links to health-related sites, resources and databases that can be used to research health conditions and diseases
• How to Find Reliable Health Information – a resource developed by the Joint Commission to provide consumers with sites recommended by the Medical Library Association and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
• Next Steps After Your Diagnosis: Finding Information and Support (also available in Spanish) – helpful tips from the federal Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality
• You: The Smart Patient: An Insiders Handbook for Getting the Best Treatment – based on the popular book published in conjunction with the Joint Commission
• Having Surgery? What You Need to Know (also available in Spanish) – from AHRQ