How should one handle medical information from strange doctor-look-alike avatars and podcasts on the internet? This question is important question when you see yourself going to your doctor’s office and saying, “ Doctor, I heard this podcast from Doctor Internet and he said that you should prescribe Cholesterol pills for me”.

It is amazing the number of people who get their medical information from TV commercials, websites and soap operas that claim to be medical experts. Of course, not everything on the web is reliable and not every medical web site should be trusted that claims to offer reliable medical information. You may also be shocked to discover that doctors do not have an answer to everything. This means that getting medical information actually involves getting it from the right doctor and if it is online, then from the right website resource. How to do go about that?

One of the best sources of medical information is to go to sites from reliable organizations, like the American Heart Association and the American Academy of Pediatrics that can be relied upon for their medical information.

There are also other good sites that offer reliable information as well. Sites that link to these general sites for example, will also likely contain reliable medical information since they allow visitors to locate more related content that agrees with what is on their sites. In order to identify the correct medical advice, use more than one resource. Double checking is vital. If the information is true, it will show up in more than one location. When only one source can be located, then you are faced with the issue of validity. Sometimes, you may locate two sources that contradict each other. Then, what do you do? When this happens, locate someone whom you trust to help sort things out. This procedure can be used verify medical information collected both online and offline.

Your community library is another place where you can get medical information. First make a list of topics to be researched and your questions before going to the library. There are many medical dictionaries, encylopaedias and handbooks with medical information and all of these can be found in a local library. Make good use of these resources in addition to reliable online sources and your doctor to help answer your medical questions, the right way.