MedlinePlus Tutorial 5: Using MedlinePlus to Find Information About Drugs, Supplements and Herbs

Welcome to the video tutorial "Using MedlinePlus to Find Information About Drugs, Supplements, and Herbs." This video is for you, the Community Health Worker. It shares about a great, reliable website where you can find information on drugs, supplements, and herbs. When you use this one website, you can be confident that you are sharing health information that is accurate and reliable. They have already done the research for you and gathered the information you need. Maybe your clients sometimes ask you about a drug prescription they're taking. They may wonder about the side effects. For example, maybe a client of yours has been given a prescription for Oxycodone. They may have heard that this is a drug that can be addictive. They have told you that they would like to know more. Or, maybe a client has a question about a supplement, like Calcium, that they thought might be helpful to take. MedlinePlus is a great place to start when you are looking for drug, supplement, and herbal information. At the MedlinePlus homepage you can either start by clicking on the "Drugs and Supplements" tab here at the top, or, scroll down the page 'til you see the big green pill. Let's start with "Drug Information" just here at the top. You can browse alphabetically by the generic name, or brand name, to learn about specific prescription and over the counter medicines. The information includes side effects, dosage, special precautions, and more. Let's say one of your clients has been prescribed Oxycodone for back pain, and let's say that they have asked you for information about it. Start by clicking on the letter "O" to look up Oxycodone. Then scroll down until you see it listed alphabetically. Now click on the name. The first thing to note is the information with the red border around it. If a drug has a warning from the Federal Drug Administration, also called the FDA, it will be listed at the top with a red border. Also at the top is how to pronounce the name of the drug. Sometimes knowing how to correctly pronounce the drug is helpful. In the light blue box at the top you can click on the item you want information on, or you can just scroll down and you will see the information. You can print or send a link to your client. As you scroll down the page, you will see information about why a doctor prescribes it, how someone should take it, if a person should take special precautions, What to do if a person forgets to take a dose side effects, how to store it, and more. If you want the information in Spanish, go to the top right corner, and click on "Español" and the Spanish language information on Oxycodone will appear. Now let's look at herbal and supplement information. It is on the same page as the drug information. but you may have to scroll down a little bit further. Click on "All herbs and supplements." Now you can look for information by clicking on the letter of the alphabet that the herb or supplement starts with. Let's say a community member asks you about melatonin, to be able to sleep better. Some people who have trouble sleeping take this. So let's look at melatonin. We'll start by clicking on "M." Next, we'll look for and then click on "Melatonin." This entry has the light blue box at the top where you can click on an item. Or you can just scroll down to learn all kinds of information, such as, what melatonin is, how effective, or ineffective, it is, any concerns about safety, how it can interact with drugs and other herbs or supplements, other names for it, and more. If you want the information in Spanish, go to the top right corner, and click on "Español." And the Spanish language information on melatonin will appear. Not all herbal or supplement information will look like this page. For example: let's look at Calcium. MedlinePlus has linked us to the reliable information from the Office of Dietary Supplements of the National Institutes of Health. It looks a little different, because it shows trustworthy information from a different source. But it provides similar types of information. Notice that here, this information is also available in Spanish, but know that for some drugs and supplements, information may only be available in English. Know that the information that MedlinePlus offers about drugs, herbs, and supplements, is trustworthy, and it is based on science. It's a good place to look first for the information you need.