MedlinePlus is a free Web site that provides consumer health information for patients, families, and Health care providers. The site brings together information from the United States National Library of Medicine, the National Institutes of Health (NIH), other U.S. government agencies, and health-related organizations. The U.S. National Library of Medicine produces and maintains the site . MedlinePlus includes a companion site, MedlinePlus en español, which offers similar content for the Spanish-speaking community. It also offers a mobile site in both English and Spanish optimized for display on mobile devices. Over 150 million people from around the world use MedlinePlus each year. 1 MedlinePlus contains: Health information and a medical encyclopedia covering hundreds of diseases, conditions, and wellness issues Drug information for both generic and brand-name prescription and over-the-counter medications Herbal and dietary supplement information A medical dictionary Health news articles from Reuters Health Information and HealthDay, plus press releases from major medical organizations Directories of physicians, dentists, hospitals, clinics, and other health care providers Videos of surgical procedures and and anatomy videos Interactive health tutorials that use animations and sound to explain conditions and procedures MedlinePlus Connect, a service linking patients or providers in electronic health record (EHR) systems to related MedlinePlus information on conditions or medications A mobile site at http://m.medlineplus.gov/ to provide authoritative health information for the growing audience of mobile Internet users

Contents 1 History 2 Notes 3 References 4 External links History Throughout its history, the National Library of Medicine traditionally focused its programs and services on health care professionals. In the 1990s, the Library recognized that the general public was becoming a very important user group, due to the increasing availability of Internet access.2 This new user group needed access to reliable health information in a consumer-friendly, Web-based format. 3 The National Library of Medicine sought to meet this need with the introduction of MedlinePlus in October 1998. MedlinePlus debuted with 22 English-language health topics. Today, it has grown to over 800 health topics in English and Spanish and also includes links to health information in over 40 other languages.

Since its inception, the site has received numerous awards and media recognition for its quality and usefulness. The site continually scores highly in the American Consumer Satisfaction Index. 4 Notes ^ MedlinePlus Statistics. Available from http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/usestatistics.html ^ Miller N, Lacroix EM, Backus J. MEDLINEplus: building and maintaining the National Library of Medicine's consumer health Web service. Bulletin of the Medical Library Association [Internet]. 2000 Jan [cited 2009 May 26];88(1):11-7. Available from: http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?artid=35193 ^ Marill JL, Miller N, Kitendaugh P. The MedlinePlus public user interface: studies of design challenges and opportunities. Journal of the Medical Library Association [Internet]. 2006 Jan. [cited 2009 May 26];94(1):30-40. Available from: http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?artid=1324769 ^ ACSI Scores for U.S. Federal Government 2010. Available from http://www.theacsi.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=238&Itemid=261 References MedlinePlus, "MedlinePlus Statistics". Available from http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/usestatistics.html Miller N, Lacroix EM, Backus J. The making of Medlineplus. Public Libraries. 2001 Mar-Apr;40(2):111-3. Miller N, Tyler RJ, Backus JEB. MedlinePlus: The National Library of Medicine brings quality information to health consumers. Library Trends [Internet]. 2004 Fall[cited 2009 Jun 8];53(2):375-88. Available from: http://www.nlm.nih.gov/pubs/staffpubs/lo/LibraryTrends_fall2004.pdf ACSI Scores for U.S. Federal Government 2010. Available from http://www.theacsi.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=238&Itemid=261 External links MedlinePlus: [1] http://medlineplus.gov/ MedlinePlus en español: [2] http://medlineplus.gov/spanish/ MedlinePlus Quality Guidelines: [3] http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/criteria.html Articles about MedlinePlus: [4] http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/bibliography.html MedlinePlus Mobile: http://m.medlineplus.gov/ v · d · eHealth science > Medicine Specialties and subspecialties Surgery

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Physician (MD/MBBS and DO) · Physician assistant Biomedical research · Clinical psychology · Dentistry · Epidemiology · Optometry · Pharmacy · Podiatry · Public health · Veterinary medicine History of medicine · Medical education · Medical school · Personalized medicine

Physician (MD/MBBS and DO) · Physician assistant Biomedical research · Clinical psychology · Dentistry · Epidemiology · Optometry · Pharmacy · Podiatry · Public health · Veterinary medicine History of medicine · Medical education · Medical school · Personalized medicine

Physician (MD/MBBS and DO) · Physician assistant Biomedical research · Clinical psychology · Dentistry · Epidemiology · Optometry · Pharmacy · Podiatry · Public health · Veterinary medicine History of medicine · Medical education · Medical school · Personalized medicine