Other Resources to Answer Medical Questions

Dear Virtual Hospital and Virtual Children's Hospital User,

Thank you for your interest in the Virtual Hospital and Virtual Children's Hospital and for your valuable feedback. If you have submitted a technical or administrative question, we will send a separate response to you as soon as possible.

If you have asked a medical question or are seeking medical advice, we are very sorry but due to limited staff and numerous ethical and legal complexities, we are unable to respond personally to your medical question.

Allow us to suggest some other resources you may use to answer your question:

1. An excellent resource to begin with is your primary care doctor. You can discuss your concerns and have your questions answered to your satisfaction. Your doctor can often be very helpful in explaining your overall condition, treatment goals and options. Your doctor can also be an excellent source for referrals to appropriate specialists in your area or for second opinions.

2. Another resource would be the staff of the appropriate department in your local or regional hospital. You can find a list of these institutions at the American Hospital Directory and Children's Hospital's Directory.

3. The National Network of Libraries of Medicine is "dedicated to making the world's biomedical information available throughout the United States. If you are without access to a medical library, we can help you." Contact them at 1-800-338-7657 or at their Web Site

4. It is important to learn how to evaluate the quality of medical information on the Internet. The Medical Library Association has a guide at their Web Site

5. If you haven't already, you might try the Virtual Hospital search page or the Virtual Naval Hospital search page.

6. Some main indices of information on the Internet which are comprehensive medical resources: