Although I work in a hospital, my profession is Statistics. I help the doctors and nurses here plan research studies and make sense of the numbers after the research is done. I am totally unqualified to provide medical advice. If you have a question about Statistics, like “When would you use a median instead of a mean to summarize your data?” then I can provide an intelligent answer.
Some questions that might seem to you to be statistical in nature, such as, “What is the average age that infants can start taking solid foods?” but which I am still unqualified to answer. If you are unsure about whether the question is medical or statistical, go ahead and ask. The worst that will happen is that you will get a polite “Sorry I don’t know” response back.
There are some good web sites that do offer medical advice from professionals. I would encourage you to check these sites out in addition to any advice you get from your family physician. If you find any helpful advice at any of these other web sites, please let me know. If none of these sites are helpful, please also let me know so I can stop recommending them to people.
- Baby Station. This site provides advice about Pediatric issues. http://www.babystation.com/
- Welcome to Your Family Doctor. A site that offers online medical consulting, and confidential medical questions and answers. Sponsored by the International Medical Journal. http://www.consult.iperweb.com/
- Med Help International. This site provides the tools necessary to make informed treatment decisions within the short time lines dictated by their illness or disease. http://www.medhelp.org/
You can find an earlier version of this page on my original website.