6 September 2001. The site offers the latest health care ratings, news and research from A.M. Best. It offers ratings for health care companies worldwide. Viewing the rating requires free registration. Researchers must pay to obtain a complete report. 17 April 2000. The National Library of Medicine offers the popular adam.com medical encyclopedia at its MEDLINEplus site. No search feature exists. Researchers first must select from top-level categories: disease, injury, nutrition, poison, special, surgery, symptoms, and test. Then browse an alphabetical index to select a topic.
Entries incorporate adam.com data only. Researchers will not find links to MEDLINE and other important references like they do at the major MEDLINEplus site. Still, it's useful content for those seeking basic medical information. 2 February 2005. Several health-related government agencies sponsor this Web site, which provides information on federally and privately funded HIV/AIDS clinical trials and treatment. Find treatment and prevention guidelines, information about drugs approved for HIV treatment and investigational drugs, clinical trials, preventive and therapeutic vaccines, and other resources. A useful feature of the site breaks down the vast amounts of information by type of visitor; i.e., patient, researcher, provider or student. Under "researcher," you will find a briefly annotated list of available databases. 29 November 1999. The American Medical Association offers a search tool for finding physicians by name or by specialty. Information provided includes name, office location, phone, certification, professional status, education and residency.
2 March 2000. Supplied primarily with data collected from the Health Care Financing Administration (HCFA) and SK&A Information Services, this site offers a mix of free and fee-based information. Typical hospital entries in the free category include hospital name, address, telephone number, Medicare provider number, organization type (e.g., voluntary nonprofit), number of beds, subproviders and distinct units, services, limited financials (gross patient revenue, non-patient revenue, net income/loss), and inpatient/outpatient utilization statistics.
12 May 2006. Ronald A. Bergman, Ph.D., a retired professor of anatomy, provides an online library of information about anatomy, which has been taken from various textbooks. While there is some commentary, most of the information consists of drawings or illustrations. The drawings come from texts that include an English-language translation of the 1841 atlas entitled "Handbuch der Anatomie des Menschen," "A Cross-Section Anatomy" (1911), Atlas of Microscopic Anatomy (1999), Anatomy of First Aid (2004), and others. 30 August 2000. Publisher Reed Group, Ltd. offers a database containing the content of The Medical Disability Advisor: Workplace Guidelines for Disability Duration, Third Edition by Presley Reed, MD. Access is by keyword(s) only. Enter a medical condition or surgery name to find a description, synonyms, diagnosis information, treatment, complications, predicted outcome, alternative potential diagnosis, and specialty field of study. 13 November 2001. Revised 10 February 2006. Document delivery service, Infotrieve, offers a database of bibliographic citations and article abstracts. It includes information from more than 54,000 journals and covers disciplines, such as science, technology, medicine and law. Query the database for free. Purchase full-text copies of articles directly from the site. Coverage extends back to 1966. 25 June 2002. Robert W. Schrier, Professor and Chairman, Department of Medicine, University of Colorado School of Medicine, edits this multi-volume text on kidney diseases. Published by Blackwell Science, the online edition currently carries the same copyright date (1999) as the print edition. The full-text of each volume is available for free. The site features simple and advanced search interfaces, high resolution images, and PowerPoint presentations. 25 January 2002. The National Library of Medicine provides resources and information about biological pathogens that cause disease or death. The guide focuses on diseases like anthrax and smallpox, which cause concern in light of the events of 11 September 2001. 26 September 2001. A health and life sciences hub of the United Kingdom's Resource Discovery Network, BIOME enables querying individual or multiple databases of reviewed Web sites. The databases include:
* OMNI -- health and medicine
* VetGate -- animal health
* BioResearch -- biological and biomedical sciences, including genetics, biotechnology, virology, biochemistry and molecular biology.
* Natural Selection -- nature
* AgriFor -- agriculture, food and forestry
Searchers may query the complete text of entries or browse by controlled subject terms. The controlled vocabulary used depends on the database. AgriFor uses both Dewey (broad) and CAB (detailed), for example, while BioResearch uses National Library of Medicine (broad) and MeSH2000 (detailed). 6 June 2001. The American Board of Medical Specialties offers fee-based access to data available in The Official ABMS Directory of Board Certified Medical Specialists. According to site documentation, both the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) and the Joint Commission for Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO) have designated the directory and the Web site as official primary sources for verifying physician certification. A free trial subscription is available.
6 February 2001. The National Library of Medicine and the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine team to bring CAM to PubMed. The database offers bibliographic information and abstracts as well as links to full-text articles when available. 31 May 2001. Esteemed abstracting and indexing service Cambridge Scientific Abstracts (CSA) offers its database of bibliographic citations of scientific literature as well as several reports on various "hot topics." CSA's hot topics series covers several issues relating to biomedical, environmental, life, and materials sciences. Each report offers information about current issues as well as key abstracted citations and Web sites. This portion of the service appears to be free.
Access to CAS's Internet Database Service requires a subscription. CAS, however, makes an older portion of the database available for searching free of charge. This requires registration.
The fee-based service includes access to databases like AGRICOLA (agricultural sciences), Conference Papers Index, Environmental Sciences & Pollution Management, GeoRef (geological sciences), International Pharmaceutical Sciences, NTIS (technical reports), PsycINFO, WasteInfo (waste management), and more. It also provides access to electronic journals published by CAS.
Searchers may query more than one database simultaneously, deliver search results electronically, set up email alerts for ongoing research, and request full-text articles via interlibrary loan. The later may require membership with participating libraries.
22 December 2004. An independent, not-for-profit organization, the Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI) works to improve the quality of health care in Canada. Its Web site offers full-text PDF copies of published research reports on health related issues as well as statistics. Free registration is required to obtain access to some of the information. 12 April 2004. The American Cancer Society publishes statistics about cancer incidents and mortality every year. This Web site contains data from 1997 to present on cancer incidence, mortality, survival and cancer risk factors. It provides annual estimates of expected new cancer cases and deaths. A special section covers cancer disparities by race or ethnicity and socioeconomic status. You can review popular tables individually, or display the entire document (PDF). The annual documents also contain additional related facts such as environmental cancer risks and nutrition and physical activity. 18 August 2005. Written for the layperson, this site offers educational materials on "the biology of cancer. [It makes] no assumptions ... about prior knowledge of biology or cancer."
Learn about how cells work in order to understand what goes wrong. Topics include cell structure, cell division, gene mutation and types of cancer. The site also addresses diagnosis and detection, treatment, current research and current clinical trials. 3 October 2002. This utility serves as a gateway to a wide variety of information available from the Centers for Disease Control. Find articles from Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR), prevention guidelines, mortality statistics, cancer statistics, and a variety of other public health data. 27 April 2004. Three medical professionals, one of which also maintains the popular medical myth debunking Web site, Quackwatch, provide this guide to information about chiropractic theories and practices. Updated at irregular intervals, the guide highlights suspicious practices and bad information. It offers articles covering dangers to patients, questionable practice-building techniques, investigations, diagnostic and treatment practices, insurance issues, advertising, education and more. 4 January 2002. The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) offers several databases containing information on chronic disease prevention and health promotion. The databases provide bibliographic citations and abstracts of various types of materials including journal articles, monographs, book chapters, reports, curricular materials, fact sheets, and proceedings. Full text is provided for selected publications. The databases also contain descriptions of chronic disease prevention and health promotion programs.
Broad topics covered include health promotion and education, cancer prevention and control, prenatal smoking cessation, epilepsy education and prevention activities, and the publications of the National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion. 1 March 2000. The National Library of Medicine introduces ClinicalTrials.gov, a database of information about clinical research on diseases and conditions. Researchers may narrow their queries to find only currently open clinical trials. The database, however, contains information about closed studies as well. Typical entries include sponsor's name, a description of the trial's purpose, the diseases or conditions to be studied, links to the Library's research guide (MEDLINEplus) for additional information about the diseases or conditions, the study type, its official title, eligibility requirements, physical location, and sources of additional information. 18 August 2005. The Cochrane Collaboration, an international non-profit organization "dedicated to making up-to-date, accurate information about the effects of healthcare readily available worldwide," offers free search access to its database of Cochrane Reviews. The Reviews assess the effects of healthcare interventions "to help ensure that healthcare decisions throughout the world can be informed by high quality, timely research evidence." Searchers may display abstracts of the reviews free of charge. Full access requires a subscription. 6 November 2001. The health-related agencies of the U.S. government provide offer CHID Online, a collection of bibliographic databases of health awareness and education materials. The databases cover 16 topics, including Alzheimer's disease, alternative medicine, diabetes, epilepsy, kidney diseases, rare disorders, weight control, and others. 3 May 2005. The Medical Library Association maintains this Web site/publication for understanding medical terms and prescription shorthand. It provides plain English definitions for select medical terminology. It also explains some of the abbreviations or symbols you might find in medical writing or prescriptions. 2 February 2005. Published every 5 years by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), the guidelines provide information about healthy dietary habits for people ages two and older. You can download the entire pamphlet in PDF, or review the executive summary (PDF) or related materials. The Web site also links to related materials from government agencies. 9 August 2001. This multimedia Web site offers patient information about common illnesses and diseases. Affiliated with the Institute of Health Sciences at the University of Oxford, DIPEx provides video, audio, and text-based interviews with patients concerning their experiences with an illness and how it impacts on their lives. Currently, the site offers such information for hypertension and prostate cancer only. Patients also will find answers to common questions about the illness/disease, a forum for discussing it with others, links to related Web sites, and an advanced search feature that allows you to zero in on relevant portions of video interviews. 24 October 2001. This page within the Web site of the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) indexes diseases and related topics and links to their corresponding Web documents. It makes finding quality information about certain diseases easy. 16 April 2003. Medical Object Oriented Software Enterprises Ltd. serves as a cross-referenced index of human disease, medications, symptoms, signs, abnormal investigation findings and more. Search by keyword to find medical and common names, definitions (provided by the National Library of Medicine's Unified Medical Language System), Web sites devoted to the subject and pre-set queries in a number of databases. For example, the search for "lupus" (without quotations) returns several possible matches. Click one of these to find medical and common names for the disease, a UMLS definition, a chart of linked Web sites devoted to the topic and another chart of pre-formulated search queries for databases like PubMed, On-line Medical Dictionary and more. 4 February 2004. "The discovery of the DNA structure in 1953 revolutionized the way we understand life and promises to change the practice of modern medicine." With this opening statement, the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Web site celebrates the historic event. It offers a timeline and short history of genetics and genomics, a copy of the original 1953 article, Molecular Structure of Nucleic Acids, which appeared in Nature magazine, access to the archive of the scientific and personal materials of Nobelist James Watson and an extensive annotated bibliography. Accessing content on this site requires Macromedia Flash. 11 November 2002. Revised 2 November 2007. Consumer advocacy group Public Citizen grades the 50 states on their provision of health-related disciplinary information via the Web. Discover what individual states provide, where they provide it, and how easy or difficult the site is to use. Specifically, the reports cover the availability of information about disciplinary data on specific doctors, the action taken, the offense, a summary narrative, board orders, the doctor's personal information, license number, license expiration date, medical specialty, date of the action, and availability of at least 10 years of data. Another feature loads a chart of the grades for all states. 2 March 2000. Revised 22 February 2002. This site offers directories for locating physicians, hospitals and medical plans. Entries include basic information like name, address and telephone. Entries for physicians may also include medical school, year of graduation, certification status, and medical specialties. 2 June 2003. Revised 6 January 2006. The American Medical Association offers a search tool for finding physicians by name or specialty and state. Information provided includes AMA membership status, name, medical specialty, office location, phone and American Board of Medical Specialties (ABMS) certification. For AMA members, information provided also includes hospital admitting privileges, health plan participation, Medicare and Medicaid acceptance, gender, foreign languages, education, residency, fax, office hours and more. 14 September 2001. The site offers samples of medical images and sells medical legal exhibits, anatomical models and illustrations. It conveniently arranges its samples into browseable categories including medical specialties and parts of the body. 14 November 2002. Browse this medical dictionary available via MerckSource by Merck & Co. There is no search feature. The bottom of each page indicates a current copyright date, but it's uncertain whether this pertains to the edition of the dictionary. 18 May 2000. Revised 23 January 2004. The National Library of Medicine compiles information about prescription and over-the-counter medications from two drug sources--MedMaster, a product of the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists (ASHP) and the USP DI Advice for the Patient, a product of the United States Pharmacopeia (USP). Browse the index by generic or brand drug name to find general and specific information, including brand names, public health warnings, precautions and more. 15 January 2001. Revised 7 May 2008. With content provided by USP DI Volume II, Advice for the Patient, the American Academy of Family Physicians offers this database of drug information. The database contains "monographs that provide guidance on proper drug use: precautions, side effects, special considerations such as age, allergies, pregnancy, and breast feeding." Search or browse by drug name. Also find brand names, dosage information, and side effects. 30 May 2002. DrugIntel, a consulting and publication service for legal and pharmaceutical professionals, offers this watch list of drugs involved in litigation. Discover the drug's litigation status, what patients say they have experienced, the drug maker, and more. Elsewhere at the DrugIntel site, attorneys may purchase detailed drug reports. 26 April 2006. The National Library of Medicine on drugs and other chemicals that affect breastfeeding mothers. Search by chemical name to find information about the levels of the chemical found in breast milk, suggested alternatives and citations in the medical literature. 28 January 2002. This site provides both consumer and professional information about drugs, in English and Spanish. Conduct a search by drug name or condition to find information for consumers or professionals. Drug information for professionals includes indication, pharmacology, precautions, side effects, consultation and dosing, as well as, VA classification and brand names.
Information about conditions comes from the site's Care Guide, which is written for consumers. Consumers receive easy-to-read descriptions of the condition, including its causes, symptoms, and treatment. With respect to drug information, consumers receive plain English descriptions, highlights of key information about the drug, cautions about inappropriate uses or mixing the drug with certain foods, other medicine, or activities (like smoking), and more.
Another feature, with intriguing research potential, lets searchers find drugs by their shape and color. 24 April 2000. DrugScope, a leading United Kingdom provider of information about drugs, offers this Web site devoted to teaching about illegal or street drugs. Visitors may browse the encyclopedia by drug name although indexing appears inconsistent. For example, researchers will find cannabis indexed by most of its street terms, but the same is not true of cocaine, which the reference indexes only by "cocaine" or "crack." Also, the search feature did not work on the day I visited the site.
Articles may include drug street names, images of the drug, paraphernalia, and associated plants or other material, a brief history, current news about its use in the U.K., and brief information about its regulation, effects and risks. 29 November 2000. eMedicine Inc., developer of software that allows for author-editor collaboration during the preparation of medical texts, offers numerous peer-reviewed medical texts online free of charge. The texts I reviewed offered information about authors and editors as well as a form for sending questions to the authors or editors, the date the topic or chapter was last updated, a button that automatically ran a MEDLINE query on the topic, and another button for requesting email notification about updates to a topic.
eMedicine topics include dermatology, emergency medicine, psychiatry, obstetrics and gynecology, neurology, pediatrics, sports medicine, and more. The site also offers consumer treatment guidelines and advice concerning wilderness emergencies. 23 August 2004. The National Center for Biotechnology Information, a division of the National Library of Medicine, offers a cross-database search utility for life sciences information. The utility enables simultaneous searching of PubMed, PubMed Central, online books and many specialty databases. Initial results appear in the form of a count next to each database where the keywords are found. To display the results of a particular database, click the number next to it. 3 January 2001. The American Association for the Advancement of Science offers this current awareness site for reading about the latest research in medicine, health, science and technology. Research institutions and scientific organizations, who have registered with the site, post news releases. On the day I visited, for example, I discovered a news release by the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), dated for the next day, that summarized the findings of researchers who studied a possible connection between brain cancer and the use of cell phones.
The site offers a search engine, with advanced features, for finding older news. 16 November 2000. This site offers a database of extended care providers. Search by location or provider name to find acute care hospitals, adult day services, assisted living residences, psychiatric facilities, home care support services, hospice care, nursing homes, retirement communities, and more. Data offered includes facility name, address, phone, fax and type, number of beds, applicable licenses, and number of units. Also find commentary on aging and related issues, news, and more. 14 February 2001. The National Center for Health Statistics offers a subject index to statistical information related to health issues. 15 April 2002. Search this directory of Food & Drug Administration certified mammography facilities. Search by zip code or state to find basic contact information. 24 March 2004. This Web site by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) provides information about products used to prevent, diagnose and treat cardiovascular disease. Find product descriptions and instructions for medications, medical devices and diagnostic tests. Browse by diagnostic test, medication or medical device. Be aware: some of the product links lead to information at other Web sites. 23 August 2004. MedlinePlus offers a directory for finding information about hospitals. Search by hospital name, zip code or city to find general and specialty hospitals. The directory provides street address, phone number, Web site, hospital type, number of beds, JCAHO accreditation, hospital services, a map and driving directions. 25 June 2002. FOI Services, Inc., a document retrieval company specializing in the retrieval of Food & Drug Administration (FDA) documents under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), offers a searchable library of over 150,000 documents it has collected since its inception during 1975. Search the library for free. Purchase individual documents, many of which are available online. To find FOIA documents pertinent to specific companies, query the company name omitting inc, co, ltd, etc. Database coverage includes documents pertaining to drugs, devices, food, veterinary medicine, and biologics, guidelines, inspection reports, and Espicom Market Research Reports. 16 August 2004. The National Library of Medicine provides a Web site for consumers on genetic conditions, genes and chromosomes. It contains summaries of conditions, genes and chromosomes as well as a glossary of genetic and medical terms. It also offers an illustration of how genes work and how mutations cause disorders. Condition summaries explain the genetic cause and pattern of inheritance. They also link to related gene or chromosome information. Gene summaries give the official name and symbol. They also provide the gene's chromosomal location, and explain its normal function and how mutations in the gene cause particular genetic conditions. Chromosome summaries provide an estimate of the amount of DNA and number of genes for each chromosome. 25 April 2006. A project of the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation, the site provides statistical data by country on HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria and other key health and socio-economic indicators. You may browse data by topic or by country. The site enables downloading the data as tab-delimited text files for further analysis. It also enables printing or sending the data as an e-mail message. 13 September 2001. MultiTech Communications, Inc. offers a gateway to glossaries of interest to professionals in insurance, reinsurance, risk management, employee benefits, healthcare, and related fields such as law and financial services. Access entries at the bottom of the opening page. As the term gateway implies, entries come from a variety of sources including several in foreign languages. 7 April 2003. Hosted by the University of Washington School of Public Health and Community Medicine, the Glossary defines medical and health-related terms. Arranged alphabetically, many definitions include source information. 13 June 2000. Bartleby.com, an online publisher of reference works and classical fiction, recently added the 1918 edition of Gray's Anatomy of the Human Body to its collection. This version includes 1,247 illustrations and a subject index sporting 13,000 entries. To search Gray's Anatomy, go to the home page for the work. Then use the search feature at the top of the page. 24 June 2002. Find an extensive directory of links to useful sources of information on cancer. According to the site's selection criteria, researchers will not find information about alternative cancer treatments. They will, however, find information about complementary treatments, as well as resources by non-profit organizations and free substantive information by commercial entities. The author's background is in statistics and computing, as well as in (non-medical) cancer research. 7 November 2001. The Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry offers this database of information on the release of hazardous substances from Superfund sites or from emergency events and on the effects of hazardous substances on the health of human populations. The database features an interactive site activity map, which searchers can use to obtain a list of all hazardous waste sites within a particular state.
15 June 2003. Subtitled The Policy Journal of the Health Sphere, Health Affairs is a bimonthly journal published by Project HOPE. The Web site provides full-text articles, tables of contents and abstracts of article from the print edition as well as articles published exclusively on the Web site. Web exclusives "are selected based on their timeliness and relevance to the contemporary policy debate," and appear in full-text. Non-subscribers can display tables of contents, abstracts and selected full-text papers for free. They can also search the archives and receive email alerts. Subscribers, and those who opt to pay on a per use basis, can access all articles in full-text. 20 April 2005. David E. Williams of MedPharma Partners authors this Weblog on business issues related health care. He comments primarily on current news stories. Recent topics have included fatigue and cognitive decline, gene therapy, patient as customer and improving drug compliance. He also offers an XML-based feed. 29 August 2002. The National Health Information Center offers its database of information about health-related resources. Enter keywords (keep it simple) to retrieve information about organizations devoted to specific health topics. Abstracts include information about publications, Web sites, and contacts. 1 June 2000. This not-for-profit Swiss foundation provides a portal to health information on the Web. Some of its unique features include a Code of Conduct label for health sites providing authoritative trustworthy information, a search tool for finding medical literature, healthcare news, and Web sites by MeSH term and another search tool for finding medical Web sites by keyword. 7 December 2000. Intelligent Medical Objects (IMO), a medical software development company, offers this search engine for medical and health information. Health Search uses a technology it calls PHT (Personal Health Terminology) to provide focused results. PHT consists of various medical controlled vocabularies and advanced search features like stemming and sounds-like searching.
Fortunately, for the average searcher, this technology works behind the scenes. Searchers simply enter terms describing a medical condition, disease, procedure, or medication to find matching Web-based information. For example, I entered "claritin d" without quotations to find information about this allergy drug. This helpful engine noted that there are two types of Claritin-D (regular and 24 hour). Following the link for either will lead to matches, primarily from health sites, for this search.
Next, I tried "systemic lupus" without quotations. This yielded 15 possible variations, each possessing additional links for "ICD Info." Clicking on ICD Info, retrieves IMO's description of the disease. Researchers will find this useful for verifying that they have selected the correct term and for expanding the research to include similar terms.
Like the drug search above, clicking on "links" next to the disease name then retrieves Web-based information about systemic lupus. These links include those that automatically search MEDLINE (see links labelled NLM PubMed). 22 February 2002. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention offers this database of bibliographic citations to articles, published between 1986 and 1996, on "the study and use of communication strategies to inform and influence individual and community decisions that enhance health." Diseases and health behaviors covered include cancer, heart disease, mental health, substance abuse, and more. Populations, settings, and communication media covered include the elderly, schools, workplaces, interpersonal communication, new media, and more. Search by a variety of criteria, including author, title, topic, and others, or select a pre-defined query. Developed by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, in cooperation with various federal agencies, this resource assists researchers in finding "online publications, clearinghouses, databases, web sites, and support and self-help groups, as well as the government agencies and not-for-profit organizations that produce reliable [health-related] information for the public." 3 March 2000. Revised 22 February 2002. HealthGrades.com offers brief profiles about hospitals, physicians, nursing homes, health plans, dentists, and other related businesses. Intended to assist consumers in selecting an appropriate hospital, the site enables searching by geography and medical condition. Researchers may not search by hospital or doctor name.
Once researchers enter their criteria, HealthGrades.com produces a list of matching facilities or individuals. Click on the paper icon next to the hospital's or doctor's name to receive a brief report. Physician reports typically include name, address, telephone, specialties, certification, hospital and health plan affiliations (including Medicare), medical school, years in practice, gender, and sanctions.
Information about sanctions includes a simple "yes" or "no" as to their existence. Researchers who desire more information about sanctions should contact the state medical board in the state where the physician practices. 21 December 2000. The National Network of Libraries of Medicine, a program of the National Library of Medicine, offers a series of pathfinders (research aids) on a variety of health and medical issues. While the pathfinders address specific questions, experienced researchers may select and follow the advice of one that best describes the research at hand. For example, a librarian whose patron seeks information on children with dyslexia, may follow the research advice outlined in the pathfinder, "How do I locate information that focuses on parenting children with Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity (ADHD)?"
Helpfully, each pathfinder begins with bullet points that reveal what it covers. One intention of the above pathfinder, for instance, is to "[l]ocate reliable information and support resources for parents who are dealing with children's health problems, learning or behavioral disorders." The pathfinders end with test questions librarians may use to practice their research skills. 1 August 2000. HighWire Press, founded by Stanford University, assists in the publication of 210 online medical or science journals. It offers a database for searching the content of these journals.
Search by author(s), title, abstract or keyword to find article summaries and full-text articles. Some journals require registration or paid subscription for full-text access. 28 January 2004. Health On the Net (HON) Foundation provides a hyperlinked list of rare diseases. Click on the name of a disease to find MeSH (medical indexing used at PubMed) headings, synonyms and resources. Resources include medical definitions, articles, images, news, clinical trials and more. HON offers this information in five languages--English, French, German, Spanish and Portuguese. 20 April 2005. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) and various medical organizations built a resource for comparing the quality of hospitals with respect to their services for adults with certain medical conditions. You may search by state, county, city, zip code or the name of the hospital. Initial search results provide the name, address and telephone number of the hospital. They also indicate whether it is accredited and if it has an emergency department. More detailed results specify and compare its performance with respect to certain conditions. Informative Graphics offers an encyclopedia of human anatomy. The resource includes interactive pictures and descriptive text. 8 August 2002. The International Bibliographic Information on Dietary Supplements database contains bibliographic citations to published scientific literature on dietary supplements, including vitamins, minerals, and botanicals. The full IBIDS database enables keyword queries as well as searching by author, title, or publication year. Features include the ability to save or email bibliographic citations.
Searchers may opt to query the IBIDS Consumer Database or the Peer Reviewed Citations Only Database. The consumer database contains more consumer-oriented publications while the peer reviewed database contains information from peer reviewed literature only. 11 April 2001. Harcourt, Inc. subsidiaries Academic Press, W.B. Saunders, and Churchill Livingstone team to provide online full-text (but not free) access to articles from numerous scientific, technical, and medical journals and encyclopedias by these publishers as well as by Mosby and Baillière Tindall. Searchers may query the database (free of charge) by keyword or category. Field restricted searching (e.g., by author, title, etc.) is also available. The advanced search template further enables searching of the MEDLINE database. Article abstracts, which include the complete bibliographic citation, are available free of charge. Full-text articles appear in portable document format (PDF) and cost $35.00 each. To purchase articles, you must register to use the site. Please note: At the time I used the site, THE PAGE REQUESTING CREDIT CARD INFORMATION DID NOT APPEAR SECURE (I.E., NO LOCK SYMBOL APPEARED IN INTERNET EXPLORER). 12 May 2006. The Alzheimer's Association illustrates how Alzheimer's disease affects the brain with a 16-part interactive presentation. It provides basic definitions, explains how a healthy brain works, and demonstrates what happens when Alzheimer's disease changes the brain. Related areas of the site provide more information about the causes, symptoms, diagnosis, treatment and stages of the disease as well as related conditions. 6 June 2001. The Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) offers a database of information about scientists and medical researchers with ties to companies, educational institutions, or non-profit organizations. It reveals brief information about the topic of research and who funded it. Search by scientist, topic, university, or company. Or browse information about non-profit institutions that fund medical or scientific research. 15 June 2004. The Kaiser Family Foundation provides a resource for health policy students and faculty, but researchers and others interested in health policy questions will find it useful. It provides annotated resource collections (called Reference Libraries) and "issue modules" on health policy issues such as the new Medicare prescription drug benefit, medical errors and health coverage for the uninsured. Modules include a background briefing, presentations, references to key information sources, information about key organizations, Webcasts and references to policy analyses, reports on public opinion and academic literature. 7 June 2002. The American Association for Clinical Chemistry, and other professional associations, collaborate to provide information about clinical lab tests. Learn about why a test might be given and how to interpret its results. The site also offers a library of conditions and diseases that links to associated lab tests. Also find information about tests given outside the lab (e.g., mammograms, ultrasounds), news, and more. 13 September 2001. MultiTech Communications, Inc. periodically publishes articles that address terminology used in a wide variety of the world’s languages in insurance, reinsurance, risk management, employee benefits, healthcare, and related fields such as law and financial services. Legal professionals should find these articles using in a variety of circumstances. 20 November 2002. This portal covers legal and medical sources of information. Arranged by legal or medical topic, entries include brief descriptions as well as the name of the resource and a link to it. A search feature assists those looking to combine topics (e.g., health law). Note that while the site claims to have some quality controls in place, it does allow owners to bid on keywords. 14 February 2001. This fee-based site by Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, offers the complete text of Cancer: Principles & Practice of Oncology, 6th edition, monthly updates to the treatise, surgery video clips, a skin cancer atlas, reference links to PubMed (MEDLINE) abstracts, and additional resources. The site offers a 90-day free trial. 22 May 2000. This site comprises a network of Web sites designed for use by medical professionals. Currently, the network consists of seven specialties -- cardiology, dentistry, internal medicine, nursing, obstetrics and gynecology, pediatrics, and surgery. It plans to launch more than 20 additional sites in the future.
Each site within the network (e.g., http://www.internalmdlinx.com/ for Internal Medicine) offers summaries of current medical news "from the most respected medical sources available including the New England Journal of Medicine and the Journal of the American Medical Association." Each summary offers a link to the article online.
My brief review of some of the network sites found that without a subscription to the individual news sources, I could obtain bibliographic information and an abstract. Some also permitted per use payment for articles. 19 October 2001. Leading medical societies ban together to offer a library of peer-reviewed content for physicians and patients. Considering the current news regarding biological warfare, I queried the library using the key term "anthrax." Not only did it offer the full text of relevant documents like "What Is Anthrax?" by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), it provided relevancy (item's pertinence to the keyword) and complexity (item's target audience; e.g., professional literature, general public) indicators. 4 February 2004. Developed and managed by the Wellcome Library for the History and Understanding of Medicine at the Wellcome Trust, and affiliated with the BIOME life sciences hub and the Resource Discovery Network (RDN), MedHist serves as a gateway to evaluated Web-based resources relating to the history of medicine. Indexed and abstracted resources cover all aspects of the history of health and the development of medical knowledge. Browse the directory by subject or search it by keyword. Advanced search features include the ability to limit results by resource type or time frame. 29 April 2003. Formerly Pharma-Lexicon, Medi Lexicon is a "dictionary of over 70,000 medical, pharmaceutical, biomedical and healthcare acronyms and abbreviations." It also provides search options for finding pharmaceutical companies, medical terms, medical articles, drugs, medical books and more. In the main navigational menu, Medi Lexicon refers visitors to hand-picked sites offering medical information and covering such topics as asthma, breast cancer, gastrointestinal diseases, cardiovascular diseases, psychiatry and prostate cancer. Many of the search results take users to other Web sites, but because they open in another browser window, it's easy to see when this happens. MedicineNet, a network of U.S. board certified physicians and health professionals, offers this index of medical terms. Medical professionals write and edit this resource. 11 November 2003. Green MedicoLegal Ltd. provides a database of medical experts in countries around the world. While Green MedicoLegal screens the experts appearing in the database, it advises searchers to verify the information. Search by country, practice or name to find some of the following information: the expert's name, affiliation, membership, phone, address, email address, Web site and expertise. Members of the American Medical Informatics Association's Internet Working Group monitor, evaluate and rate medical information sites. Their rating system ensures quality; even one-star sites provide "suitable clinical content."
Well-organized, the site annotates thousands of health-related resources. MedicineNet, a network of U.S. board certified physicians and health professionals, provides health-related news and articles, articles and information about diseases and treatments as well as various medical procedures and tests, detailed information about drugs including much of what researchers can find in Physicians Desk Reference, a medical dictionary, information about how to provide first aid, and a directory of American Association of Poison Control Centers certified poison control centers.
Medical professionals write and edit all content.
MEDLINEplus, a National Library of Medicine Web site, opened during Fall 1998. As a research guide, it suggests Web, online, paper and other sources of health-related information. 25 July 2001. German scientific information and chemistry documentation company FIZ CHEMIE BERLIN offers this search engine for finding pharmacology and medicine-related information. To search it, follow the magnifying glass icon. DO NOT click the search button as it queries the company's Web site rather than the engine.
A nice feature includes the ability to browse three of this engine's indexes -- keywords, meta tags, and Web site addresses. If you want to know how many times your term appears in the index, use this feature. Also use it if you want to find all pages associated with a particular Web site. 2 November 2001. Merck released a new interactive version of its Merck Manual home edition. The interactive version offers photos, animation, videos, illustrations, a search feature, and more. Users may expand a table of contents, browse a subject index, or query the Manual. The site also retains the original text edition. Users will find copyright and citation information on the Manual's home page (before entering the interactive or original editions). Merck offers its new 1999 (17th) edition of The Merck Manual in its entirety. The Merck Manual "provide[s] useful clinical information to practicing physicians, medical students, interns, residents, nurses, pharmacists, and other health care professionals in a concise, complete, and accurate manner." Covering topics related to internal medicine, the new edition adds "hand disorders, prion diseases, death and dying, probabilities in clinical medicine, multiple chemical sensitivity, chronic fatigue syndrome, rehabilitation, smoking cessation, and drug therapy in the elderly." Also find "A Centennial History," a review of medical practice during the past 100 years.
14 November 2002. InteliHealth Inc. offers the 1997 edition of the Merriam-Webster Medical Dictionary. An advanced search feature lets you look up medical terms by name, function, usage, or other criteria. 19 May 2003. Publisher InterDok Corporation offers this complementary service to its Directory of Published Proceedings. MInd: The Meetings Index is a database containing information about meetings, conferences, symposia and other events that result in published proceedings. Topics covered by the index include science and technology, medical and life sciences, pollution control and ecology and social sciences and humanities. Select from a list of keywords to find information about events, which includes the names of the events, dates, locations, organizers or sponsors, contacts and a link to the Web site. 26 April 2006. A service of the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, this clearinghouse provides encyclopedia-like information about diseases and conditions associated with diabetes, the digestive system or the kidneys. Essays often contain illustrations. It offers statistics, information about clinical trials and clinical practice guidelines, links to related associations, government agencies and databases, as well as Spanish translations of its publications. This is a good starting point for research pertaining to digestive disorders. 28 August 2001. The United Kingdom's National Health Service (NHS) offers this pilot site for NHS staff, which the public may also use. NHS is developing this health information portal in response to a national directive for a digital library for health care professionals and the public.
It organizes, and links to, many practical and authoritative information sources including a clinical guidelines database, guidance documents, numerous medical databases, and more. See, for example, the Anatomy database, which offers 3D anatomical pictures. Users can rotate the images and remove layers to expose underlying structures. 29 March 2001. The National Cancer Institute offers a directory of research tools and services for cancer researchers. From the home page, select a category that closely resembles your search for information, and then review the many annotated resources. Click on the linked information source title to find more information about available resources including a description, link, and contact information. The site also offers an email update service for information about resources added to the directory. 4 May 2001. This site offers a database of health, science, and medical news from medical and scientific news sources. Search the database by pre-defined topic or keyword. It returns "summaries of peer-reviewed research, conference reports, news releases, and articles compiled from other health and medical organizations."
Researchers may display a summary report, containing title, lead sentences, and length of the full-text article for free. Or they may print the entire report for a fee. Reports contain full-text articles on the topic, or matching the keyword search, and cover a specific period of time.
At present, the database contains over 9,000 full-text reports on about 1,200 topics. Click here, to examine a sample report. 27 April 2004. Developed by the National Institute on Aging and the National Library of Medicine, this Web site offers information about several health conditions often suffered by the elderly. Conditions covered include Alzheimer's disease, arthritis, balance problems, breast cancer, colorectal cancer, hearing loss and others. The site provides information about each condition, including causes and prevention, symptoms and diagnosis, treatment and research and frequently asked questions. In addition to options that let you adjust the size and contrast of the text, the site provides an audio function. Simply turn it on and it will read the text on the page to you. 5 March 2002. This older database contains bibliographic information about research reports supported by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health. Many of the bibliographic records include annotations. Search by author, title or keyword. The database covers the years 1971 through 1998. 2 October 2002. Query several National Library of Medicine databases simultaneously. These include MEDLINE/PubMed, OLDMEDLINE, LOCATORplus, MEDLINEplus, DIRLINE, AIDS Meetings, Health Services Research Meetings, Space Life Sciences Meetings, and HSRProj. The Gateway also lets users browse or search MeSH terms. The National Library of Medicine provides this new search interface to all resources within its collection. Perform keyword searching for books and other library resources. Medical researchers may search by MESH subject headings. Features include ability to track search query history. 15 January 2003. This rather boring title does not do justice to the excellent content available. Browse by author, publication year, or topical codes to find annotated references to patient safety materials. This bibliography's sources include articles from peer-reviewed and other medical journals, legislation, government reports, news media (text and video), industry reports, and more. Links to actual documents appear when available. 24 June 2002. Revised 5 May 2008. Multiple federal agencies join to offer this portal to their nutrition-related information. The site provides access to federal government information on nutrition, healthy eating, physical activity, and food safety. 31 August 2004. A metasearch service, OmniMedicalSearch.com passes your health-related query to several general medical, medical news and medical image search engines and databases. Results from general medical sources appear first with the source of each result labeled in red type beneath the hit. While the majority of the results come from useful sources, the inclusion of sources such as Yahoo (.org domains only) and Teoma (.edu domains) yields some garbage. You can reduce the garbage by selecting "MedPro Search" or "Basic Search" from the source options. However, both of these options retrieve some Teoma (MedPro) and Yahoo (Basic) results.
Some additional useful features include a medical acronym search, a directory of links to medical associations, a dictionary look-up utility and a directory of links to medical journals. This CancerWEB resource "is a searchable dictionary ... [that] contains terms relating to biochemistry, cell biology, chemistry, medicine, molecular biology, physics, plant biology, radiobiology, science and technology. It includes: acronyms, jargon, theory, conventions, standards, institutions, projects, eponyms, history, in fact anything to do with medicine or science." 3 May 2005. Designed for health professionals as well as consumers, this Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) portal enables personalization so that "a pharmacist interested in how bar coding can help prevent medication errors will be able to set up the site to automatically collect the latest articles, news, and conferences on this topic."
The site features medical article citations and abstracts from PubMed, abstracted resource materials including videos, books, news articles and other publications, a glossary, newsletter and more. Revised 9 May 2008. Site message indicates that access to the PDR Desk Reference will no longer be offered to those who are not medical professionals.
Consumers and health professionals alike will find useful information at this Medical Economics Company site. Except for access to Physician's Desk Reference and Stedman's Medical Dictionary, researchers may browse content here free of charge. The site does require registration. Free content includes a medical encyclopedia, a guide to prescription drugs, health industry news, five health-related databases of the National Library of Medicine, clinical trial and related information, physician bios, and more.
22 December 2004. Developed by the March of Dimes Perinatal Data Center, PeriStats provides free access to maternal & infant health data in the United States. Obtain state statistical profiles on infant mortality and premature births or state statistics on birth issues such as multiple births, birth defects, smoking, alcohol and drugs and health insurance coverage. You can also create U.S. or individual state maps or graphs for specific maternal and infant health indicators. The site also offers an e-mail alerting service. 28 August 2001. The Population Reference Bureau offers this database containing health and demographic statistics worldwide. Query countries for all or specific health data. Also conduct queries for "more" or "less developed" countries. In the U.S., queries may be conducted for the entire country or specific states. Data comes from the 2001 World Population Data Sheet, The World's Youth 2000, 1998 Women of Our World, Breastfeeding Patterns in the Developing World, and the 2000 United States Population Data Sheet. 16 May 2000. The American Psychological Association offers this pay-per-use bibliographic database of psychology literature. 4 February 2002. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention offers a database of images pertaining to public health. Since most of the images fall in the public domain, researchers, scholars, and other professionals may find this a particularly useful resource. Search for images by pre-established category or keyword. A test query for "hepatitis b" (with quotations) produces two images -- one of Dane particles (hepatitis B virions) and one of a pie chart showing causes of chronic liver disease in residents of Jefferson County, Alabama. 13 November 2001. Document delivery service Infotrieve offers its database of information about journals covering a variety of topics. Search the database for free to find journal titles, publisher, ISSN, language, contact information, and more. The service also lets users view tables of contents, when available. Table of contents coverage extends back several years for some publications. Users may also opt to receive journal table of contents notices by email. Revised 5 November 2001. The National Library of Medicine provides access to MEDLINE -- a database of bibliographic information about articles in the medical sciences published since about 1966 -- and citations to newer publications not yet appearing in MEDLINE.
31 August 2004. The Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO) provides a directory of JCAHO-accredited health care organizations and programs throughout the United States. Separate search utilities exist for consumers and health professionals. Search by type of care desired and location. Results list the name and location of the health care provider, its parent organization and accreditation status. You can sort results by location or accreditation status, and you can compare two or more results. The results of a comparison indicate whether the facility met the National Patient Safety Goal. 28 January 2004. The National Organization for Rare Disorders (NORD) offers a database of reports and articles on rare disorders and diseases. Reports provide a plain English description of condition as well as synonyms and contact information for related organizations. The full-text of the reports appears online, but you can also purchase a print copy. While the database reveals whether NORD has articles on the subject, you have to pay a small fee and request them by mail. 26 February 2002. The National Library of Medicine offers this digitized collection containing official reports, conference and workshop reports, and proceedings from the Office of the Surgeon General. Search or browse these materials, which include the first official report on the deleterious health consequences of tobacco use, the 1986 report on second-hand smoke as a quantifiable health risk, and others. 21 July 2005. Compiled by the National Library of Medicine, this reference consists of a briefly annotated list of training and other useful resources for health and information professionals in developing countries. It refers researchers to NLM training courses, document delivery services, collection development resources, NLM databases and other useful information sources. Revised 7 May 2008. This site offers information about prescription drugs. Do not consider it the equivalent of Physician's Desk Reference (PDR). 8 January 2003. This site serves as a portal to scientific and technical information and databases available from U.S. government agencies. Browse the collection of resources by subject or search multiple databases simultaneously. Topics include agriculture, veterinary medicine, biology, computers, energy, environment, health and medicine, math, and more. 2 April 2001. Elsevier offers this search engine devoted to finding scientific information. Powered by FAST (alltheweb.com), Scirus collects, indexes, and retrieves information pertaining to agricultural and biological sciences, biosciences, chemistry, Earth and planetary sciences, environmental sciences, life sciences, medicine, pharmacology, social and behavioral sciences, and more.
Using the simple search feature on the home page, searchers may enter a phrase, or string several words together with the Boolean "and," and limit the search to a particular field of science. The advanced search page offers more options including the ability to limit a query so that it retrieves articles only. From the results list, searchers also may select "more like this result" to retrieve items similar to one on the hit list.
Because the engine also indexes information from fee-based subscription services, searchers will find peer-reviewed journal articles. Retrieving these articles (called Membership Sources) requires a subscription to Science Direct.
2 June 2000. Currently in beta, Washburn University School of Law offers a database of articles and other commentary appearing in journals, newsletters, and other serial publications on government Web sites. Search by subject, title, or SuDoc number (classification). Clicking through on query matches retrieves the entire article. 25 April 2006. The National Cancer Institute, which is part of the National Institutes of Health, makes available this annual report of the most recent cancer incidence, mortality, survival, prevalence in the United States as well as lifetime risk statistics. You may browse or search the report. Earlier versions of the report are available back to 1993. There is also a glossary of statistical terms, links to related material and fact sheets for the types of cancer covered in the report. 5 March 2002. The Office on Smoking and Health of the National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion offers this database of bibliographic citations and abstracts of journal articles, books and book chapters, dissertations, reports, conference proceedings and conference papers, government documents, policy or legal documents, editorials, letters, and comments on articles. Search by author, title, keyword, or other criteria to find articles pertaining to the health risks of smoking. The database primarily covers 1965 to present, although searchers will find a few references to items published during the 1800s. 2 October 2002. The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation provides this Web site for finding and comparing state health-related statistics. Discover, for example, that Michigan ranks highest of all states in the percentage of employer contributions to health insurance plans. Broad statistical categories include health coverage, medicare, medicaid, health costs, women's health, minority health, and others. The site also offers state profiles. 29 August 2001. SUMSearch queries several medical resources including the Merck Manual and various PubMed resources. If it finds too many hits from a particular source, it adds limiting factors to the query in an attempt to return an optimal number of hits. While advanced searchers likely will not appreciate this lack of control, those unfamiliar with the nuances of searching PubMed/MEDLINE may appreciate this tool's assistance. For best results, take advantage of the search interface's special qualifiers; that is, if you seek articles about the diagnosis of an illness, qualify the query to find only information about diagnoses. While you wait for search results, SUMSearch offers to display the current table of contents of popular medical journals. Negatives: If you do not select qualifiers, the utility interrupts your search request with pop-up boxes reminding you to qualify the query. The search function is painfully slow and searchers cannot limit to animal subjects as they can at PubMed/MEDLINE. 18 June 2001. MT Desk offers a glossary of useful information about drugs, surgical instruments, and medical and surgical terms. Definitions often include source information and helpful background information for research. For example, the entry for Seldane and Seldane-D indicates the manufacturer withdrew the drugs from the market effective February 1998, replacing them with Allegra and Allegra-D. It provides two news sources for this information as well as a link to the manufacturer.
30 October 2002. The Telemedicine Information Exchange (TIE) of the Telemedicine Research Center (supported by the National Library of Medicine) provides this bibliographic database containing abstracts and citations to literature on telemedicine. Search by author, journal, date, or keyword. Searchers can order copies of some articles via this service. The National Library of Medicine offers this group of databases devoted to toxicology, hazardous chemicals and related information. 15 September 2000. Designed initially for general practitioners, TRIP catalogs high-quality medical literature. It's a small database (61 sources, 15,000 titles/URLs), but the focus on quality makes it worth investigating. Sources include the British Medical Journal, JAMA, and the New England Journal of Medicine.
When you construct a search, keep in mind the data available for searching includes only TITLES. Also, the syntax does not support phrase searching. The site recommends connecting terms with "AND." It also automatically truncates search terms.
To test the database, I enter the query:
lupus AND erythematosus
It returned 13 links to peer-reviewed literature and various other references. Some full-text articles cost money. 8 August 2002. Nutrition experts review and rate Web sites dealing with nutrition issues. Top-rated sites appear at the beginning of their category. The Navigator also highlights sites of particular use to journalists, health professionals, educators, and those with special dietary needs. 22 September 2003. The UCLA Center for Health Policy Research provides its publications based on the research it conducts on health needs and health policy. Reports provide analysis and data and focus on 1) access to health care and insurance coverage, 2) health promotion and disease prevention, 3) management of chronic conditions and 4) public programs and the finance and systems of health care.
Researchers may browse major categories of research or connect to the California database, AskCHIS (requires free registration), to conduct additional research. You cannot search this database by keyword. Rather, browse pre-established categories to find research data. Data is often available in tables or pie charts. Find answers to questions like, What percent of people over age 50 are diagnosed with cancer for the first time? 30 March 2005. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) sponsor this database of adverse events associated with vaccines. Patients, health care providers, pharmacists and others may report adverse events online. "VAERS collects and analyzes information from reports of adverse events (possible side effects) that occur after the administration of US licensed vaccines." 30 March 2005. The National Network for Immunization Information provides information about certain diseases and immunizations. Written for the general public, the essays outline the cause of the disease, discuss available vaccines and who should receive them, review the dose schedule, effectiveness and known side effects, and provide several references to key sources of information. This section of the site also helps you find the vaccines each state requires before entry into school or day care. 21 July 2005. The World Health Organization provides criteria for assisting researchers in identifying Web-based sources that provide valid information on vaccine safety. The criteria cover credibility, content, accessibility and design. The site also provides an annotated list of Web sites that meet its quality criteria. 7 June 2002. This specialty meta search tool focuses on quality health care resources, BUT ONLY IF you set the "site filters." We suggest that, at a minimum, you set the site filters, "quality" and "credibility," to "very concerned" before running your query. Other useful features let searchers look for information by pre-defined topic, or request a search of sites that respect privacy. 12 April 2004. The World Health Organization (WHO) provides mortality data supplied by Member States through this central database. Mortality data consists of the number of registered deaths for each country from the mid-1990s to the last reported date. Tables display the number of registered deaths by cause, sex and age. Separate tables display infant mortalities by cause, sex and age. 22 September 2003. The World Health Organization publishes this "guide to health and health-related epidemiological and statistical information available from the World Health Organization." Find information pertaining to diseases or conditions in the news, statistical resources, a mortality database, disease classification and more. You can search the guide by keyword. 24 March 2004. WHOLIS is a database maintained by the library of the World Health Organization (WHO). It catalogs WHO publications from 1948 to present as well as article and technical documents produced by WHO since 1985. The database's "quick search" feature lets you search or browse by keyword. For more options, select "power search." Initial results include author, title, publication year and location. Click the "view" button to display the complete bibliographic record.
Hyperlinked subject headings facilitate expanding a search. For example, with the quick search option, enter the query, mad cow. Display the complete record of any relevant match using the view button. Then locate additional related material by following the subject link, "Encephalopathy, Bovine spongiform - prevention and control." Another useful feature is the "print capture," which lets you copy the search results, and then save, print or email them. 26 June 2001. The American Board of Medical Specialties offers a free unofficial database for verifying a doctor's certification. This resource appears to replace the former Certified Doctor Verification Service. Search by name or practice type to obtain information about certification. The ABMS also offers an official version of the database with more information about a doctor at BoardCertifiedDocs. 19 July 2001. The World Health Organization (WHO) offers the complete text of its 7th edition (2000) World Directory of Medical Schools. The directory (in PDF) lists brief information about medical schools in 157 countries. It also offers information about the requirements necessary for obtaining a medical license in 14 countries that do not have medical schools. |
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