Fact Sheet
MedlinePlus^®

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What is MedlinePlus?
MedlinePlus is the National Library of Medicine's web site for consumer health information.

How do I find MedlinePlus?
MedlinePlus is available on the World Wide Web from the NLM Home Page (http://www.nlm.nih.gov/) or directly at MedlinePlus (http://medlineplus.gov/). MedlinePlus is also available in Spanish (http://medlineplus.gov/esp/).

What information is in MedlinePlus?

• Health Topics are the core of MedlinePlus and are available from every page. The health topics pages each link to health information from NIH and other sources and also include a MEDLINE® search, current news items about the topic, and links to related topics.
• Medical Encyclopedia - contains an extensive library of medical images as well as 4,000 articles about diseases, tests, symptoms, injuries and surgeries.
• Interactive Health Tutorials - programs that use animated graphics and sound to explain conditions and procedures in easy-to-read language
• Drug Information - find generic and brand name drugs
• Current Health News - read late-breaking stories about medicine and health
• Dictionary - find spellings and definitions of medical terms
• Directories - find locations and credentials of doctors, dentists and hospitals
• Other Resources includes the following:
  • Organizations - a collection of organizations providing health information
  • Libraries - consumer health libraries providing services to local residents
  • Databases - resources beyond MedlinePlus covering special topics and collections
  • MEDLINE - access to more than 11 million articles published in 4300 biomedical journals

How are links selected for MedlinePlus?
MedlinePlus is not an exhaustive list of every health web resource. It is a selective list of authoritative health information sources from NIH and other organizations. A link to the guidelines is on the "About MedlinePlus" page.  MedlinePlus includes mostly U.S. resources. International sites may be included at a later date.

MedlinePlus facts
System - Oracle database and Cold Fusion application
Resources are updated nightly (date on page indicates date of most recent change)
Released October 22, 1998
Includes over 650 topics

Need more information?
NLM's toll-free number is 1-888-FINDNLM (1-888-346-3656)
NLM's e-mail address is custserv@nlm.nih.gov

A complete list of NLM Fact Sheets is available at:
(alphabetical list) http://www.nlm.nih.gov/pubs/factsheets/factsheets.html
(subject list): http://www.nlm.nih.gov/pubs/factsheets/factsubj.html

FACT SHEETS
Office of Communications and Public Liaison
National Library of Medicine
8600 Rockville Pike
Bethesda, Maryland 20894

Phone: (301) 496-6308
Fax: (301) 496-4450
email: publicinfo@nlm.nih.gov

Last updated: 04 March 2004
First published: 22 October 2001
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