Your Health Priorities Tool (AHRQ)

From the US Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality Web page

If you don’t share details about your life and what is important to you, you may not get the treatment that is best for you. Think about it this way: If you are a student who lives near a bus stop, you might be able to take a medicine that makes you a little sleepy because you do not need to drive. But if you are a truck driver, that medicine might make you too sleepy to do your job. Sharing details about your daily life and what’s important to you can help your doctor recommend a treatment that helps you get better and improves your quality of life.

Answer the questions below to get your own health priorities snapshot to share with your doctor.

Click here to go to the Health Priorities Tool

Visit the Full Effective Health Care Program here
This program includes

• Guides for Patients and Consumers (as research reviews and research reports)
• Explanation of Comparative Effectiveness Research 
• Personalization and Social Media Tools to be used with the Effective Health Care Program
  (Mobile device option, email lists, Facebook, Twitter, and more)

AARP Health Tools

The American Association of Retired Persons (AARP)  now has a Health Tools page addressing with links to

• Medicare  with a search box and clickable general and specific topids
• Medicare Part D and prescription coverage
• Drug Savings Tool for finding cheaper alternatives
• Drugs A-Z to find information on prescription and over the counter medications
• Drug Compare to earn the differences and similarities between any two prescription or over-the-counter medications
• Pill Identifier to Avoid a medication mix-up. Use our tool to identify pills by color, shape and markings
• Symptom Checker – Enter your health symptoms to find out possible causes and treatments

Related Resources (from the University of Toledo Consumer Health Library Guide)

• Familydoctor.org -health information for the whole family
  Web pages include Conditions A-Z, Health Information for Seniors, Men, and Women, Healthy Living Topics, pages geared to Parents & Kids, and videos.  Numerous health tools in the left column (as health trackers, health assessments, and a Search by Symptom page. Written and reviewed by physicians and patient education professionals at the American Academy of Family Physicians.
• Mayo Clinic
  Trusted information on diseases and conditions (including a symptom checker), drugs and supplements, tests and procedures, and healthy lifestyle information. By a team of Mayo physicians, scientists, writers, and educators. 
  
• Drugs, Supplements, and Herbal Information (from a MedlinePlus page)
  Prescription and over-the-counter medication information contains answers to many general questions including topics as what a drug is used for, precautions, side effects, dietary instructions, and overdoses. From the American Society of Health System Pharmacists
• Drug Information Portal
  A good central source of drug information by the US government (the National Institutes of Health). It links you to information on over 12,000 drugs from trusted consumer drug information sources, the US Food and Drug Information, and LactMed (summary of effects on breastfeeding), It also gives any summaries from medical and toxicological articles (however, the whole article may not be for free on the Internet)
  
  

Related Articles

• Drugs: The Price Is Right (american.com)
• The New Medicare Part D: Which RA Drugs Will It Cover? (everydayhealth.com)