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What is Patient2Patient?

Patient2Patient is a privately owned independent company that was founded by patients and is directed by healthcare professionals. Patient2Patient's mission is to provide objective and critically needed information and services to other patients. Patient2Patient is not affiliated with any healthcare related companies or organizations and we do not accept advertising.

These Patient2Patient WebGuides are the first of its kind. They help you readily locate the most credible medical resources on the Internet for your condition. Our comprehensive WebGuides allow you to find the information you want, when you need it, and at your level of understanding.

What is a Medical WebGuide? Who puts it together and who reviews it?

Our Patient2Patient WebGuides provide patients and caregivers with independent, unbiased guidance to the best medical Web sites for a particular disease or condition. This way, you’ll find all the critical medical information and other Internet resources you need during the course of an illness.

First of all, our expert staff combs through hundreds of sites before determining the best ones for a particular disease or condition. After carefully analysis, they create individual profiles of each chosen site. This includes extensive guidance for understanding and applying the information and resources to your situation.

The sites are divided into twenty different categories. Categories include background on the disease, treatment options, specialty doctors and hospitals, medication information, clinical trials, and all kinds of support, resources and reference tools. Within each category are sites oriented to your individual background and experience. These range from basic information to clinical.

In addition, we list the site's sponsors, its privacy policies, pinpoint its medical credentials, provide navigation aids, and highlight each site’s most useful information. You can link directly to the Web sites from our WebGuide when you are online.

Developed by a team of medical experts, nurse practitioners, health writers, editors, Internet librarians and usability experts, and reviewed by qualified doctors, we stand behind the comprehensiveness and user-friendliness of each Guide. And since the Internet is constantly evolving, we update our Guides regularly.

Do your WebGuides contain medical information?

Our WebGuides do not contain medical information. Instead, they allow you to quickly and easily locate on the Internet the best and most current medical information for your condition. Our Guides are like having a skilled librarian helping you - one who is an expert on your disease or condition.

Each guide enables you to find the best sites, in the format you prefer, and at your level of medical understanding. By utilizing the resources available on the Internet, our WebGuides allow you to keep track of the most current medical information throughout the course of an illness.

In addition to medical information, our Web Guides provide you with information on dozens of other resources to help you with all the non-medical issues you face.

What criteria do you use to choose the sites referenced in your Guides?

Patient2Patient has developed a proprietary selection method that incorporates credibility standards from both the U.S. Government's National Health Information Center and the European Union Commission.

Furthermore, we've determined key criteria to meet the needs of patients and caregivers. We factor in the site's sponsorship, credentials, format, tone, style, level and depth of content, and the usefulness of its information and resources.

Patient2Patient guarantees a completely objective evaluation process. We are an independent, privately financed company. We do not accept any advertising. Nor do we have any ties - financial or otherwise - to any of the websites that we review and recommend, nor to any other healthcare related companies. Patient2Patient offers a source of unbiased information that you can rely on.

Why do I need this Guide?

We developed these Guides because we recognized how much patients and caregivers need this type of tool. The Web offers a world of information. Yet that information can be frustratingly elusive. Studies show that 4 out of 5 patients cannot find the health information they're looking for when they search the Internet.

In addition, these same patients (or caregivers) are already struggling with illness and often lack the energy to pore over thousands of listings and dozens of Web sites for help and answers. They need a simple, interactive tool to guide them. And they need such a tool to provide easy access to specific resources and tools for each stage of their illness.

Many patients cannot anticipate the information and resources they'll need down the road. Our Guides not only tell you "what's out there," they prepare you for the future. We provide sites with pertinent information, support and resources for each stage of your illness. And we include navigation aids to the exact information you need.

Can't I simply find this information myself?

Although the information is out there, finding it can be overwhelming. What we've done is to do that work for you. In fact, each of our Guides is the result of hundreds of hour of research, development and review.

Our information is tailored to individual needs, so that you'll have no trouble determining which sites are right for you. And remember, medical experts have reviewed each guide.

We're ensuring that you don't miss out on critical pieces of information you might never find on your own - or might not even realize exists.

What is the cost of each Guide?

The cost of a single Patient WebGuide detailing a particular disease or condition is $24.99.

In addition, for one year you can download any new, updated versions of the WebGuide that you purchase. We update our WebGuides every 90 days to include new sites, navigation changes, new site features, etc.

The Guides can be downloaded to your computer in less than 5 minutes. They are available in two formats: As a Word document or in Adobe Acrobat pdf format.

Whichever format you choose, you'll be able to link directly from the WebGuide to the referenced Web sites whenever you’re online. This way, you get immediate access to the information discussed.

We're determined to help patients and caregivers find critical information and resources available on the Internet. So If you are not satisfied with your WebGuide you can notify us within 30 days for a full refund.

A one-year subscription to one of our Patient WebGuides represents the most reasonable health subscription available on the Internet. We've deliberately made it affordable to provide as many patients as possible access to these Guides.

How do your WebGuides compare with other guides of this kind?

There is nothing quite like Patient2Patient WebGuides. Here are just some of the ways our Guides differ from other "disease summaries:"

1. Other disease summaries offer static content and are fixed in time: Like a published book, their "expertise" is virtually obsolete by the time you use it.
2. They are written to a single level of medical understanding. That level may be too simple or too complex for some readers.
3. Unlike such "static" guides, our Patient WebGuides provide access to a variety of Web site formats with different levels of content geared to a range of understandings. Our sites range from basic information to clinical.
4. Our Guides provide you with a wider range of tools, resources, and information, which fall into these four categories:
   Basic Information: Disease & condition background, treatments, specialty doctors and hospitals, detailed information on national organizations.
   Tools & Resources: Databases on medications, contra-indications, drug interactions, herbal supplements; up-to-date information on clinical trials; medical dictionaries, glossaries, and encyclopedias.
   Support Resources: Current information on local and online support groups for both patients and caregivers; information on other caregiver resources.
   Medical News: medical journal articles, newsletters, e-mail alerts, medical updates.

How do you plan to keep your Guides up-to-date?

Our WebGuides are reviewed and updated every ninety days to ensure that all the information is current. In each update, we add information on new sites, new features and changes to familiar sites, and include any new tools or resources relevant to your disease or condition.

Each WebGuide directs you to the best Internet sources for late-breaking news and up-to-the-minute research on your disease or condition, enabling you to keep abreast of new developments.

How can I find out if you have a Guide for my condition?

On our main Home page, click on "Select a WebGuide." If your condition does not appear, go to our "Email Page" and send us an e-mail. We will let you know when a Guide for your condition will be available. Since we are comprising a database of over one hundred conditions, a Guide for your condition is almost certainly in the works.