Finding Reliable Health Information

last updated: June 2025

---

Health information is often easy to find, but it can be difficult to figure out where to start and/or how to know for sure if what you have found is up-to-date and accurate. This guide provides some guidance, resources, and tools to help you get started as you find reliable health information.

Medical Professionals

When you have a question about your child’s health, their medical and therapy providers are likely the best sources of information. If you don’t have an upcoming appointment, many providers allow you to call their office and leave a message for one of their nurses. For after-hours, non-emergency questions, your provider, local hospital, and/or insurance company may have a nurse line available, as well.

Evaluating Web-Based Health Information

The internet brings health information right to our fingertips; however, it can be difficult to figure out if the information you find is up-to-date and accurate. According to the National Institute of Health (NIH), important questions to ask include:

• Who runs the website?
• What is the original source of the website’s information?
• How does the website document the evidence supporting its information?
• How current is the information on the website?

NIH offers additional tools for evaluating health information here: https://medlineplus.gov/evaluatinghealthinformation.html

Online Health Information Resources

Indiana Family to Family (INF2F) offers many up-to-date, topic-specific health information fact sheets and resources available on our website: https://www.inf2f.org/fact-sheets.html. You can find additional online health information resources on other websites, such as:

• American Academy of Pediatrics- https://www.healthychildren.org
• CDC’s Milestone Tracker App is available for Android and Apple
• Kids Health – https://www.kidshealth.org
• Lab Tests Online – https://www.testing.com/
• MedlinePlus – https://www.medlineplus.gov
• NIH Health Information Resources – https://www.nih.gov/health-information

Prescription Drug Information

• INF2F Prescription Drug Fact Sheet- https://www.inf2f.org/fact-sheets.html
• NIH Daily Med- https://dailymed.nlm.nih.gov/dailymed/

Library Resources

Your local public librarians can help you access library resources, as well as online databases. Additionally, the following resources are available to all Hoosiers:

• The INSPIRE Lifelong Learning Library for Hoosiers contains a variety of Health and Medicine databases- https://inspire.in.gov/
• The Library at the Indiana Institute on Disability and Community (IIDC) sends materials to anyone in the state and provides a variety of online topic guides- https://www.iidc.indiana.edu/library/

Select language

English Spanish

print

Print page

---

Programs and systems change often. It is important to ensure that you are using the most current information. Please check https://www.inf2f.org/fact-sheets.html for the most recent edition.

This fact sheet was supported by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) as part of an award totaling $96,750 with 89% percent financed with nongovernmental sources. The contents are those of INF2F and do not necessarily represent the official views of, nor an endorsement, by HRSA, HHS, or the U.S. Government. For more information, please visit HRSA.gov.