Research Tools

For Consumers

Alt HealthWatch
Focuses on the many perspectives of complementary, holistic and integrated approaches to health care and wellness. It offers libraries full text articles for more than 180 international, and often peer-reviewed journals and reports. In addition, there are hundreds of pamphlets, booklets, special reports, original research and book excerpts. Alt HealthWatch provides in-depth coverage across the full spectrum of subject areas covered by complementary and alternative medicine. This database features indexing and abstracts going back as far as 1984, and full text going back as far as 1990.
This resource is made available to you as part of BadgerLink, which is a project of the Department of Public Instruction’s Division for Libraries, Technology, and Community Learning for the citizens of Wisconsin.  Funding is provided through the Public Service Commission Universal Service Fund.

Consumer Health Complete
Provides content covering all areas of health and wellness from mainstream medicine to the many perspectives of complementary, holistic, and integrated medicine. This full text database covers topics such as aging, cancer, diabetes, drugs and alcohol, fitness, nutrition and dietetics, men’s and women's health, and children's health.
Help available for this resource: online tutorial, usage tips: or sign up for training
This resource is made available to you as part of BadgerLink, which is a project of the Department of Public Instruction’s Division for Libraries, Technology, and Community Learning for the citizens of Wisconsin.  Funding is provided through the Public Service Commission Universal Service Fund.

Health Source: Consumer Edition
The richest collection of consumer health information available to libraries worldwide, providing information on many health topics including the medical sciences, food sciences and nutrition, childcare, sports medicine and general health. Provides access to nearly 80 full text consumer health magazines.
This resource is made available to you as part of BadgerLink, which is a project of the Department of Public Instruction’s Division for Libraries, Technology, and Community Learning for the citizens of Wisconsin.  Funding is provided through the Public Service Commission Universal Service Fund.

Lexi-PALS Drug Guide
Database of Patient Advisory Leaflets from Lexi-Comp that provides vital education on medications for patients. The approach for each pamphlet is to present each medication in an easy to follow and understand question-and-answer format. The database consists of over 1,450 medication and natural product leaflets, with an additional 600 Spanish language leaflets representing the most subscribed and commonly used medications.
This resource is made available to you as part of BadgerLink, which is a project of the Department of Public Instruction’s Division for Libraries, Technology, and Community Learning for the citizens of Wisconsin.  Funding is provided through the Public Service Commission Universal Service Fund.

Student Research Center
Designed especially for youth in grades 6-12, Student Research Center makes it easy for students to search by keyword or by topic to find the most useful search results.
Help available for this resource: online tutorial, usage tips: or sign up for training
This resource is made available to you as part of BadgerLink, which is a project of the Department of Public Instruction’s Division for Libraries, Technology, and Community Learning for the citizens of Wisconsin.  Funding is provided through the Public Service Commission Universal Service Fund.

For Professionals

Health Source: Nursing/Academic Edition
Provides nearly 550 scholarly full text journals focusing on many medical disciplines. Health Source: Nursing/Academic Edition also features the Lexi-PAL Drug Guide, which covers 1,300 generic drug patient education sheets with more than 4,700 brand names.
This resource is made available to you as part of BadgerLink, which is a project of the Department of Public Instruction’s Division for Libraries, Technology, and Community Learning for the citizens of Wisconsin.  Funding is provided through the Public Service Commission Universal Service Fund.

MEDLINE
Provides authoritative medical information on medicine, nursing, dentistry, veterinary medicine, the health care system, pre-clinical sciences, and much more. Created by the National Library of Medicine, MEDLINE uses meSH (Medical Subject Headings) indexing with tree, tree hierarchy, subheadings and explosion capabilities to search citations from over 4,800 current biomedical journals.
Help available for this resource: sign up for training
This resource is made available to you as part of BadgerLink, which is a project of the Department of Public Instruction’s Division for Libraries, Technology, and Community Learning for the citizens of Wisconsin.  Funding is provided through the Public Service Commission Universal Service Fund.

Recommended Websites

24 Languages Project
Over 200 health education brochures in 24 different languages. Arabic, Armenian, Cambodian, Chinese, Croatian, English, Farsi, French, German, Haitian Creole, Hmong, Japanese, Korean, Laotian, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Samoan, Serbo-Croatian, Somali, Spanish, Tagalog, Thai, Tongan, and Vietnamese.

American Board of Medical Specialties
List of all board certified physicians. Includes the 24 approved medical specialty boards (such as cardiology or anesthesiology) in the United States. "Board-certified" physicians have completed their residencies and passed exams sponsored by the board. Online search requires free account.

American Medical Association
"Doctor Finder" provides basic professional information on virtually every licensed physician in the United States and its possessions, including more than 690,000 doctors of medicine (MD) and doctors of osteopathy or osteopathic medicine (DO). Includes access to JAMA and other journals published by the AMA, consumer health information on various topics, and AMA news releases and policies.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Health and Safety topics including: diseases and conditions, emergency preparedness, healthy living, traveler's health, workplace safety and more.

Consumer Reports Best Buy Drugs
Consumer-friendly reports that examine and compare prescription drugs to help guide choices based on effectiveness, a drug's track record, safety and price.

FamilyDoctor.org
Health information for the whole family that is written and reviewed by physicians and patient education professionals at the American Academy of Family Physicians.

FDA.gov; the U.S. Food and Drug Administration
Health information for both consumers and professionals ranging from food safety issues to medical devices and drugs. Includes Foods, Drugs, Medical Devices, Biologics, Animal Feed and Drugs, Cosmetics, Radiation-Emitting products and more. The "Dockets" section gives access to up-to-date government rulings, recalls, regulations and other miscellaneous documents related to food and drugs.

Healthfinder.gov
Resource for finding the best government and nonprofit health and human services information on the Internet. Healthfinder.gov links to carefully selected information and Web sites from over 1,500 health-related organizations.

Hospital Compare
Tbis tool from the US Dept. of Health & Human Services provides information on how well the hospitals in your area care for all their adult patients with certain medical conditions. Hospitals are searchable by name or by location.

KidsHealth
Doctor-approved health information about children from before birth through adolescence. Has separate areas for kids, teens, and parents - each with its own design, age-appropriate content, and tone.

Mayo Clinic
Mayo Clinic's extensive web site for medical information.

Medicare.gov; the US Government Site for People with Medicare
Website available to provide assistance to Medicare beneficiaries with health and prescription drug coverage questions.

Medline Plus
Excellent source of health information from the world's largest medical library. Contains extensive information from the U.S. National Library of Medicine and the National Institutes of Health on over 700 topics on conditions, diseases and wellness.

National Institutes of Health (NIH)
One of the world's foremost medical research centers offering health information for the public as well as medical professionals.

National Library of Medicine
The world's largest biomedical library provides information about all of its major programs, including medical research, medical history, biotechnology, and HIV/AIDS resources. A wide variety of medical information is available for both professionals and consumers, including access to databases (e.g. MEDLINE and GenBank), fact sheets and newsletters, toxicology and environmental health information.

Nutrition.gov
Federal government information on food and human nutrition for consumers.

Wisconsin Consumer Guide to Health Care
This site provides information related to Wisconsin's managed health care plans and their performance in providing high-quality care and customer service to their members.

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