What resources should health professionals consider when recommending on

A wealth of health information is available on the internet. However, many sites with accurate health information are not well-suited for consumers, and many sites oriented toward consumers do not contain accurate health information. Links to several reputable, well-designed, consumer-oriented websites are below.

• Healthfinder.gov
• Medline Plus (in particular the “EZ to Read” materials)
• Health.gov
• NIH Senior Health
• KidsHealth
• National Council on Patient Information and Education (NCPIE)

Two sites with practical information about writing and designing user-centered websites are Usability.gov and Health Literacy Online. These sites review how to implement key strategies for user-centered design (from Health Literacy Online):

1. Learn about the users
2. Write actionable content
3. Display content clearly
4. Organize and simplify
5. Engage users
6. Evaluate and revise

Note these strategies are very similar to the principles for clear health communication, as applied to written communication.