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Introduction to Consumer Health Resources at the National Library of Medicine: MedlinePlus, ClinicalTrials.gov and the NLM Gateway

(1.5 Hour - Presentation/Demonstration/Hands-on)

I. Overview
(10 minutes)

• Introduction to Online Consumer Health Information Resources
  • The Consumer Health Environment
  • Public Access to Health Information
  • Evaluating Quality
• National Library of Medicine (NLM) (http://www.nlm.nih.gov/)
• National Network of Libraries of Medicine (NN/LM) (http://nnlm.gov/)

II. MedlinePlus (http://medlineplus.gov)
(15 minutes)

• Overview of MedlinePlus
  • Kinds of information/Site features/Selection guidelines
  • MedlinePlus homepage
  • About MedlinePlus page
• Health Topics
  • Finding What You Want (Searching)
    • Frequently Requested Topics
    • Alphabet Letter
    • Broad Groups/Categories
    • Search Box (defaults to All MedlinePlus)
    • Spell Checking
    • Advanced Search Features
      • Applying Limits
      • Choosing Content Areas
    • Browse the Encyclopedia
    • Interactive Health Tutorials
  • Topics Pages
    • Contents of this page
    • Latest News
    • Clinical Trials
    • Español/Spanish
    • NIH Organization
    • MEDLINE Search
    • MedlinePlus Related Pages
• Drug Information
  • Browse by First Letter of Name of Drug
  • Generic Name Retrieval
  • "About Your Medicines" link
  • "Drug and Medical Device Safety" link
  • FDA Links
• Dictionaries
  • Medical Terminology Issues
  • adam Health Illustrated Encyclopedia
• Directories
  • Health Professionals
  • Health Facilities
• Other Resources
  • Organizations
  • Libraries
  • Government health sites from other nations
  • Publications on the Web
  • Databases
  • MEDLINE
• Interactive Health Tutorials
• MedlinePlus Hands-on Practice
  (10 minutes)

III. ClinicalTrials.gov (http://clinicaltrials.gov/)
(15 minutes)

• Overview of Clinical Trials
  • Purpose
  • Process/Key Concepts
  • Types of Trials
  • Sponsors
• About ClinicalTrials.gov
  • Purpose
  • Why it was developed
  • Site Content
• Using ClinicalTrials.gov
  • Page Structure
    • Menu bar
    • The Footnote
  • Finding Clinical Trials
    • The Basic Search
    • Spell Check
  • Working with Results
    • Search Details
    • Search Results
    • Trial Details
  • The Focused Search
  • Browse
• Resource information to help your patients
• FDA information for Health Professionals
• ClinicalTrials.gov Hands-on Practice
  (10 minutes)

IV. The NLM Gateway (http://gateway.nlm.nih.gov)
(15 minutes)

• Overview of NLM Gateway
  • Purpose
  • Content
  • Consumer Health Resources
  • Collections found only through the Gateway
• Gateway Home Page
  • Sidebar
  • The Footnote
• Finding What You Want (Searching)
  • Double Quotes
  • Using AND, OR and NOT
• Working with Results
  • Results Summary
  • Displaying Results
  • Jump to Collection Feature
  • Display Formats
  • Publisher Link to Full-Text
  • Details of Search
  • Download or Display
  • Find Terms
  • Limits
  • Locker/Order Documents
• Gateway Hands-on Practice
  (10 minutes)

V. Getting Additional Help/Wrap-Up/Evaluation
(5 minutes)

• Help and Information (Handout)
• NLM Customer Service
• NN/LM Librarians
• National Training Center and Clearinghouse