Health Literacy is defined as the degree to which an individual has the capacity to obtain, communicate, process, and understand basic health information and services to make appropriate health decisions (1).
The ability (or lack of) to comprehend, evaluate, and act upon health information affects our quality of life, overall health outcomes, patient-physician relationships, and healthcare expenses. Most importantly, low health literacy can have fatal consequences for ourselves or our loved ones.
The purpose of the Consumer Health Information page is to provide links to a small sample of credible information resources specifically designed for patient or consumer level health information.
All of the selected websites, online books, and multimedia are freely available to the public.
Searching the millions of health-related webpages on the internet can be challenging, intimidating, and, sometimes, harmful.
The Consumer Health Information Guide is created and maintained by the staff at the Annette and Irwin Eskind Family Biomedical Library and Learning Center. The staff has evaluated each of the referenced resources with guidance from the Health on the Net Foundation Principles, but these resources are for informational purposes only, and should not be used as substitutes for medical advice from a certified health care provider. Library staff cannot provide medical advice to you, but they will help you identify appropriate resources for evaluation and discussion with your health care provider.
