10 Sites to Bookmark

Best sites for healthcare information and at-home favourites

BY MELINDA MATTHEWS

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www.thecochranelibrary.org
Cochrane Collaboration reviews are regarded as providing among the highest levels of evidence to guide clinical-treatment decisions. The site includes the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, which can be browsed by topic or group, for additions and updates, and by alphabetical index. The site also includes clinical trials, technology assessments and economic evaluations.

www.infoway-inforoute.ca
The Canada Health Infoway website is a great resource that details developments in e-health. There’s information about each of the federal government’s nine e-health investment programs, as well as a list of ongoing projects in each area. A resource centre features current and archived documents, available in PDF format.

www.aidsmap.com
This is the online home of NAM, the UK-based organization dedicated to supporting the fight against AIDS with independent, accessible and comprehensive information. The site presents information from around the world to HIV-positive people and to the professionals who treat, support and care for them. This comprehensive website covers such topics as treatment and care, living with HIV, preventing HIV, and a search engine to find HIV and AIDS organizations worldwide.

www.aboutkidshealth.ca
This site, maintained by Toronto-based Hospital for Sick Children, provides a wealth of information on such areas as health and well-being, developmental stages, conditions and diseases, family and peer relationships, learning and education, as well as safety. The site also includes links to further resources and current news and an interactive atlas of child anatomy and physiology that caregivers can use to show parents and families how organs normally work and how they are affected by disease.

http://dir.pharmacy.dal.ca and http://itp.pharmacy.dal.ca
The College of Pharmacy at Dalhousie University in Halifax has launched two new websites to help make finding information a little easier. As a drug, pharmacy, health and professional information resource, DIR covers more than 60 topics, from compounding to information for pregnant patients. The ITP site is a tutorial to help pharmacists use the Internet to locate and evaluate drug information. Both sites have been upgraded recently to make them more efficient and user-friendly.

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www.davidsuzuki.org
The online home of the David Suzuki Foundation provides a plethora of environment-related information, with a focus on five main areas: solutions to global warming; protecting human health; conserving the oceans; promoting global conservation; and building a sustainable economy. The site provides practical tips to help conserve nature and achieve sustainability. If you’re up for a challenge, join ‘The Nature Challenge,’ which will present you with 10 environmentally sustainable choices concerning food, transportation and energy use.

www.howstuffworks.com
Founded by North Carolina State University Professor Marshall Brain in 1998, this site offers easy to understand information on thousands of topics, ranging from how credit scores work, to how to buy the best chicken for your next dinner party. Information and step-by-step instructions are presented through articles, graphics, diagrams, and educational videos. Curious minds can use the site search engine to find specific answers, or just browse a particular day’s feature topics.

www.metacritic.com
A review might help you decide what movie to watch or which book to read, but it is still just one person’s opinion. Launched in 2001, metacritic.com scours the Internet to provide a cross-section of reviews for the latest releases in film, video, music, books and games. In addition to linking to each review, the site creates “metascores,” which combine all the critics’ scores into a single, overall grade. Why trust one person’s opinion when you can take the average of many?

www.dailylit.com
If the prevalence of modern technology (including the Internet) stops you from picking up a book, why not use the same technology to have books sent to you? This site, created by two people who spend hours a day online and never seem to find the time to read a book, offers more than 400 classic and contemporary works free of charge in the public domain. The works are sent in instalments to your email, on a day and at a time selected by you.

www.fodors.com
This site offers shopping, dining, hotel, and cultural recommendations for travellers who want a better sense of a destination. The website supplements the popular Fodor’s guidebooks with timely travel advice and trip-planning information, covering more than 275 destinations. You can also add your own ratings, letting other readers know whether you think that hotel or restaurant deserved its five-star rating.