This for-profit healthcare information company helps educate consumers so they can play a more active role in managing their own health.
Strengths: Despite its notoriety as a Web site devoted to overall health and well being, WebMD offers reliable, up-to-date cancer information.
Cancer Information
In addition to general health and wellness news and information, the for-profit WebMD Web site offers cancer information, including symptoms, diagnosis, staging, and treatments for a number of the most common types of cancer. Cancer information about some cancers is provided in collaboration with the Cleveland Clinic and the National Cancer Institute.
For the most common types of cancer, there are links to news articles that cover advances in diagnosis and treatment, and information about the drugs most commonly used to treat those cancers. There is also a section called Community & Resources, that contains links to blogs written by medical professionals, and message boards where one can communicate with their peers, and/or ask questions of an expert. For all the cancer overviews, there is a list of helpful Frequently Asked Questions.
While these summaries may provide helpful background information about your type of cancer, they are somewhat general in nature and may not take into account all the factors your own doctor may consider important when evaluating potential treatment options.
In general, the WebMD site indicates when its information was last updated and who reviewed the material. The news articles included within each topic are written by journalists who work for WebMD and are reviewed by WebMD physicians. There is a helpful control that allows you increase and decrease the font size, and information is well-organized.
Physician Directory
The for-profit WebMD site offers a Physician Directory that can help you find physicians, including oncologists (cancer doctors), throughout the United States. You can search the directory by physician name, location, or specialty. The specialty search allows you to find a medical, gynecologic, and/or radiation oncologist. To find a surgical oncologist, you will need to search Surgery and then determine from the results whether a particular surgeon specializes in your type of cancer. Search results provide you with a physician’s name and contact information, specialty, and hospital and HMO affiliations.
You can also take advantage of WebMD Appointment Services. These are free services that allow users to request appointments with a physician online. Once you have found a doctor, select the Appointment Services link and complete the Online Appointment Request.
WebMD securely transmits your appointment request to the physician’s office fax machine. You should get a call back from the physician’s office in about one business day. You can print out a summary of your request with a map to the doctor’s office for your records and to write down the confirmed date and time of your appointment.
