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Contact the Librarian at Your Campus for More Help!
University Park & World Campus:
Dr. Christina L. Wissinger
(clw68@psu.edu)
University Park & World Campus:
Kat Phillips
(kec5013@psu.edu or 814-865-3731)
Abington:
Katie Odhner
(kzo5154@psu.edu)
Berks:
Sarah Hartman-Caverly
(smh767@psu.edu or 610-396-6243)
Berks:
Alex Chisholm
(AEC67@psu.edu or 610-396-6242)
Erie:
Stephanie Diaz
(SAD35@psu.edu or 814-898-6062)
Harrisburg:
Bernadette Lear
(bal19@psu.edu or 717-948-6360)
Hazleton:
Valerie Lynn
(vag3@psu.edu or 570-450-3128)
Welcome!
Penn State University Libraries supports all students, staff, faculty, and community members who wish to improve their health.
Please note that library employees are not qualified to diagnose or recommend treatment for health problems, nor are they responsible for the accuracy of the medical information within the web sites, books, and other resources listed in this guide. The library's health-related services are limited by RUSA Health and Medical Reference Guidelines and other best practices. For referrals to health professionals, see the "Getting Help" page.
Below are some all-purpose resources that are starting points for any personal/consumer health topic. On the left side of this guide, click on tabs to learn about resources for specific health concerns.
A site by the U.S. Department of Health. Covers health conditions, healthy living, and resources for interacting with doctors. To get started, click on "Browse Topics" at the top of the page.
Written by the American Academy of Family Physicians. Provides medical information in simpler language, including pages for children. See the topics and search box at the top of the page.
From Nemours, a nonprofit children's health system, this site provides information on topics related to children's health, with tabs for parents, children, and teens.
Intended for nurses, and accessible to Penn State faculty, staff, and students, this database offers "Patient Education" handouts and other professional-level information. A helpful bridge between freely-available web sites that are sometimes too basic, and the medical literature which can be difficult to understand.
Nursing Reference Center (NRC) is a point-of-care resource intended for staff nurses, nurse administrators, nursing students, nurse faculty, and hospital librarians. It delivers the best available and most recent clinical evidence and knowledge on conditions and diseases via a nursing-specific graphical interface. NRC is accessible from a patient’s bedside, nursing station, kiosk, office, or home.