Media Doctor does not provide medical advice, and does not assess the quality of the evidence on which the stories are based. Instead, we concentrate on the articles themselves. For more information on the treatments featured on this site, please try the following links.

• Drugs in the News

  http://www.policyalternatives.ca/index.cfm?act=news&do=Article&call=154&pA=BB736455

  This is a free download of a study published in April 2003 by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives. It is the first of its kind in Canada, and examines reporting in Canada's 24 largest daily newspapers about five major prescriptions drugs launched in recent years. The report includes a journalist's guide to covering prescription drugs, as well as list of independent sources of drug information.

• Media Doctor Australia

  http://www.mediadoctor.org.au

  This is the original Media Doctor, established in Newcastle, Australia and the model upon which Media Doctor Canada is based.

• Health News Review

  http://www.healthnewsreview.org/

  HealthNewsReview.org is a website based in the United States dedicated to:
  
  * improving the accuracy of news stories about medical treatments, tests and procedures
  * helping consumers evaluate the evidence for and against new ideas in health care

• Cochrane Collaboration

  http://www.cochrane.org

  The Cochrane Collaboration is an international non-profit and independent organisation, dedicated to making up-to-date, accurate information about the effects of healthcare readily available worldwide. It produces and disseminates systematic reviews of healthcare interventions and promotes the search for evidence in the form of clinical trials and other studies of interventions. The Cochrane Collaboration was founded in 1993 and named for the British epidemiologist, Archie Cochrane.

• Canadian Medical Association Journal (CMAJ)

  http://www.cmaj.ca

  CMAJ is the leading health sciences journal in Canada. CMAJ is a general medical journal publishing original research and review articles, commentaries and editorials, practice updates, an arts and ideas section and health news.

• Therapeutics Initiative

  http://www.ti.ubc.ca

  The Therapeutics Initiative has been established in 1994 by the Department of Pharmacology and Therapeutics in cooperation with the Department of Family Practice at the University of British Columbia to provide physicians and pharmacists with up to date, evidence based, practical information on rational drug therapy. The Initiative is an independent organization, which is at arms length from government, pharmaceutical industry and other vested interest groups

• Statistics every writer should know

  http://www.robertniles.com/stats/

  Mathematicians have developed an entire field - statistics - dedicated to getting answers out of numbers. You don't need a degree in statistics in order to conduct an effective "interview" with your data. But you do need to know a few basics. Here, described in plain English, are some basic concepts in statistics that every writer should know...

• Women and Health Protection

  http://www.whp-apsf.ca/en/index.html

  Women and Health Protection is a coalition of community groups, researchers, journalists and activists concerned about the safety of pharmaceutical drugs. The group keeps a close watch over the proposed changes in the federal health protection legislation and examines the impact of those changes on women's health. Their documents make clear recommendations to the government demanding that Canadian legislation truly provide "health protection".

• Health Skepticism

  http://www.healthyskepticism.org/

  Health Skepticism aims to improve health by reducing harm from misleading drug promotion

• Hitting the Headlines

  http://www.library.nhs.uk/hth/

  The National Library for Health (NLH) has commissioned the Centre for Reviews and Dissemination (CRD) at the University of York, to assess the reliability of both the journalists' reporting of health stories and the research on which they are based. CRD staff provide a rapid assessment of the original research behind the news story and evaluate how accurately the journalists have reported the findings of the research. CRD produces summaries of news stories within 48 hours of their publication.

• Committe of Concerned Journalists

  http://www.concernedjournalists.org/

  The Committee of Concerned Journalists is a consortium of journalists, publishers, owners and academics worried about the future of the profession.
  
  To secure journalism's future, the group believes that journalists from all media, geography, rank and generation must be clear about what sets our profession apart from other endeavors. To accomplish this, the group is creating a national conversation among journalists about principles.

• Health News Reviews (United States)

  http://www.healthnewsreview.org/

  HealthNewsReview.org is Media Doctor Canada's sister site in the United States supported by the Foundation for Informed Medical Decision Making.

• National Collaborating Centre for Methods and Tools

  http://www.nccmt.ca/
  Find wire rope sheaves and pulley
  Find lip fillers near me in London Ontario
  Find the best VW & Audi car parts online in Canada
  

  The NCCMT focuses on improving access to and use of evidence-based methods and tools for stakeholders involved in policy making, program decision making, practice, and research in Canada. Its mission is to enhance and encourage evidence-informed public health policy and practice in Canada.

• Media Doctor Hong Kong

  http://www.mediadoctor.hk/

  The Media Doctor Hong Kong website was started in 2008 by a team from the Journalism and Media Studies Centre at the University of Hong Kong. Much like the original Media Doctor project, their aim is to promote excellence in health and medical news reporting.

• Tipsheet for Reporting on Drugs, Devices and Medical Technologies

  http://www.commonwealthfund.org/publications/publications_show.htm?doc_id=239323

  A very helpful brief report on essential elements of reporting on all matters medical.

• Sick About Health Care

  http://www.alumni.umn.edu/Sick_About_Health_Care.html

  The quality of health care journalism in America makes Gary Schwitzer ill. But the associate professor of journalism at the University of Minnesota is working to bring accuracy and integrity to health reporting- and pushing journalists to ask tough health care questions that aren't being answered.
  
  The following link will allow you to access the "Sick About Health Care" article (by Pamela Hill Nettleton) and view an exclusive interview with Dr. Gary Schwizter on Access Minnesota.

• DrugAlert.org

  http://www.drugalert.org/

  DrugAlert.org is a comprehensive database featuring information and news alerts about potentially dangerous drugs currently on the market or previously available worldwide. The Web site is dedicated to keeping the public informed about drug recalls, side effects, and pending litigation associated with various drugs and their manufacturers