Thank you for your interest in the Internal Medicine website. 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.
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. Some main indices of information on the Internet which are comprehensive medical resources:
   1. HealthFinder
   2. MedicalStudent.com
6. The Internet's medical search engine is also a resource - MedNets
7. Public access MEDLINE from the National Library of Medicine is an authoritative resource.
8. If you have a question related to cancer, feel free to call the Iowa Cancer Information Service toll free hotline at 1-800-237-1225. Make sure to tell them the Virtual Hospital sent you.
9. If you are a health care provider and would like to refer a patient to UI Health Care, you may call UI Consult at 1-800-322-8442.
10. If you are a patient and would like to schedule an appointment, call UI Health Access at 800-777-8442 (toll free) or 319-384-8442 (local) -- or fill out the on-line form.

We wish you the best of luck in finding the information you are seeking.

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