How to Find Reliable Resources for Health Information
Written by Melissa Schenkman, MPH, MSJ
What or who is your go-to resource when it comes to your health?
Whether you are trying to find the answer to why you are experiencing certain symptoms, how to feel better quickly, or what you need to stay on top of for preventive care, the source you choose matters!
After being in the field of public health research and communications, and health journalism for a combined 15+ years, I know the most sound health sources to seek information from, but I also know that unfortunately, many people do not. And that can often be to the detriment of your health
Looking for Medical Expertise
At YMyHealth, we pride ourselves on sharing evidence-based and reliable health resources with you—in our articles and from fellow millennials who are healthcare providers and wellness experts. That’s why it is with great excitement that I introduce to you a new resource, The Med Edit Podcast.
It is the brainchild of YMyHealth Contributor and supporter Jessica Gray, MD, who is a Family Medicine Physician, and her colleague, Gastrointestinal Specialist, Cari Sorrell, MD.
Like us, they saw a sea of medical misinformation and made a decision to combat it using a large platform. They strive to replace misinformation with quality health information, in this case by using their day-to-day clinical experience and years of medical expertise.
“One of the most important parts of our jobs as physicians is educating our patients but with the time constraints current day medical practices face, we really wanted a platform to delve deeper into topics we felt patients needed to understand if they wanted to positively impact their health,” said The Med Edit Podcast’s Co-host, Sorrell.
Gray, her fellow co-host, added, “Being doctors, especially in a primary care setting, makes us also teachers. We believe in educating our patients about why we prescribe certain medications or health recommendations, but we are limited by time in our clinic settings to do this. A podcast allows us to record more in depth discussions on common health topics for our patients to engage with on their time.”
Check for Clear Evidence with The Med Edit Podcast
When you listen to The MedEdit Podcast, the first thing you will notice is both how down-to-earth and real Gray and Sorrell are, and how incredibly knowledgeable they are. They truly get the challenges we face! In doing so, they bring in their own personal clinical and life experiences to provide us with a framework for thinking about some of the most pressing health topics on our minds out there today.
Even topics that in some communities are considered taboo to talk about but that we, millennials, want to hear about (and I know this because many of you talk to me about them), Gray and Sorrell are shedding light on in detail.
From tackling myths about birth control, how to navigate infertility, to mammograms, and answering a big question on a lot of people’s minds which is also the title of one of their podcast episodes: “Is It a Cold, the Flu, or RSV? When to Call Your Pediatrician,” they are providing us with sound medical advice without misinformation.
In fact, not only are they talking about these topics and providing expert clinical advice, Gray and Sorrell are even sharing books and other reliable, evidence-based sources of information with audiences that you might not learn about otherwise. They even list them in the show notes after each episode, so you can easily locate them.
“Access to information is so quick and easy now with social media but many times the people who are giving out ‘information’ or ‘advice’ have no background or education to do so,” Sorrell pointed out. “We do not have the answers to everything just because we are doctors, but we have been trained to critically evaluate studies and information as it is presented before advising it to our patients.”
Dr. Gray and Dr. Sorrell care for patients in Lubbock, Texas. To lean more about The Med Edit Podcast and to contact the co-hosts, visit the podcast’s official website and follow them on Instagram @themededitpodcast .
Searching for Trusted Health Sources
While we are the very first not to encourage the use of Dr. Google (please always talk to your healthcare provider) as your sole source of science, health, and medical information, we know that you will turn to the Internet at some point to learn more about your health and navigate healthcare. That’s why when you do, we at YMyHealth, our incredibly brilliant and board-certified healthcare expert contributors and public health researchers like myself want you to go to the right places.
Many people are often surprised to learn from me that the most reliable health resources on the Internet for lay audiences—the term to describe people who have not been trained in science or medicine—are written by a combination of people who have been trained for years in health and scientific research (meaning they have masters degrees or PhD degrees in the area), and that the information they have written in these articles are often reviewed by clinicians, including MDs who regularly see patients.
Here is my personal go-to list of the most credible health resources that I have used in my work as a researcher, a healthcare journalist, and health communications specialist for both healthcare professional and patient audiences throughout my career:
PubMed, aka the National Library of Medicine’s National Center for Biotechnology Information – This will take you to the same evidence-based, scientific articles your healthcare providers read, as well as all public health and scientific researchers. Many you can access for free. The ones that are behind paywalls, you can ask your healthcare providers or local libraries to help you gain access to.
National Institutes of Health (*There are multiple institutes focused on specific medical conditions, including the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, and the National Cancer Institute).
The Cleveland Clinic (*Their Health Library is an amazing resource!)
Consult Your Doctor
When in doubt, ask your doctors to evaluate any new health information that you have found or are searching for.
Sorrell and Gray recommend that you ask your doctors and other healthcare providers directly for reputable resources from the start. Not only will this lead you to the right place saving you time in searching, but also this way you will get a reliable source of information.
Interestingly, Gray told us that many of the resources doctors use for their own education also produce content for patients.
Knowing how many incredibly valuable sources of health information are out there, and how many patients are being unnecessarily misinformed fuels Sorrell’s and Gray’s mission to turn the tide on health misinformation one patient and one Med Edit podcast episode at a time.
“Especially in the post COVID pandemic world, patients utilize social media and web-based resources for healthcare information at any age,” Gray said. “We need to be able to meet patients where they are, and this means fighting back against the endless amount of misinformation readily available online.”
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