The National Institutes of Health (NIH) is using both old and new ways to provide such information to the public. Computers linked to the Internet's World Wide Web (WWW)--an international computer-based framework for information exchange--are available at some public libraries as well as in a growing number of homes. The "Web" offers easily used road signs and search services to help the user instantly find and "visit" NIH's own ever-expanding health information resources as well as a variety of other "on-line" resources. Those without the capability or the desire to venture onto the information highway can use the following list of phone numbers, including toll-free and TTY/TTD lines, to call NIH or one of its information clearinghouses.

One does not need sophisticated computer skills to use the WWW to reach NIH's "home page"--at http://www.nih.gov/--and view lists of publications and other items for the public on health, various diseases, and research. Under the heading "Health Information" on the home page, for example, a user can read statements for both the public and health professionals on cancer prevention screening, detection, treatment, supportive care, and drugs. Fact sheets on AIDS and full-text on-line publications on sexually transmitted diseases are also available starting from "Health Information." Full-text statements from NIH's consensus development conferences discuss a wide variety of health topics, including physical activity and cardiovascular health, hip replacement, and optimal calcium intake. (Consensus conferences evaluate state-of-the-art scientific information on a particular biomedical technology in order to resolve a controversial issue in medicine important to health care providers, patients, and the general public.) If you don't know where to look for information on lyme disease, menopause, memory loss, or eating disorders--or a rare or obscure condition that is hard to find references on--you can check the NIH Information Index, which alphabetically lists diseases and the specific NIH institute that conducts related research.

The Institutes and Offices' heading on the home page takes the user to a list of NIH's components from which you can access their on-line resources, including full-text publications and information on research studies.

Part of NIH's mission is to conduct research on new treatments for various diseases, sometimes rare ones. Some of NIH's institutes, for example the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke and the National Eye Institute, list on their home pages clinical studies for which participants are needed. People with those specific conditions may be eligible to join the research studies at NIH's research hospital--the Warren Grant Magnuson Clinical Center--or at university medical centers across the United States. At the NIH, patients must be referred by a physician or dentist.

Back to the Future

The telephone remains the easiest means of access to information for many. The central number for NIH is 301-496-4000, and operators can transfer you to whatever institute, center, or division you want. However, a number of institutes have toll-free information and TTY/TTD lines or specialized information clearinghouses (see below). In addition, the National Cancer Institute (NCI) and the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) offer information available by fax by calling, from a fax machine, (301) 402-5874 for NCI, and (301) 443-5158 for NIMH.

Accuracy is as important as timeliness when it comes to health information. NIH is working to speed such research-based knowledge--by information age technology or the familiar telephone--to those who need it.--an NIH HEALTHWise report, October 1996

For additional information, reporters and editors can contact:

Charlotte Armstrong
Writer and Editor, NIH
Phone: 301-496-8855
Fax: 301-496-0019
E-mail: Charlotte_Armstrong@nih.gov.