[ PDF Version | View the Archives ]

Patient UK has a series of informational sections including “Health and Diseases,” an A to Z listing of conditions holding 728 leaflets. Most general practitioners in the United Kingdom have these leaflets on their computer to print out for patients during consultations. The website is currently developing audio versions of these leaflets. Also on offer are drug information leaflets under the “Medicines” heading, while under “Reference Articles” is a page entitled “PatientPlus” that offers more in-depth information that they say “is used daily by UK medical professionals, such as your general practitioner or practice nurse.” The website offers a great service to patients and is an excellent support to the physician. The listing is rounded off with a useful “What’s New” page.

The Clinical Review page from Medical Observer, a publication for Australian general practitioners, is a rich source for news and items of general interest. The eclectic sections on this page are augmented by a rich side menu that lists multifarious “Resources.” Similarly, the top menu tabs on this antipodean website are as informative as they are interesting.

The OpenCourseWare at the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health provides free access to courses for students, self-learners, and educators anywhere in the world. There are 16 categories that present lecture materials, reading, and assignments. Their description of the service is that “As challenges to the world’s health escalate daily, the School feels a moral imperative to provide equal and open access to information and knowledge about the obstacles to the public’s health and their potential solutions.” A subscription for their newsletter is available.

Substance Misuse Management in General Practice (SMMGP) is a support network for healthcare personnel who work with substance misuse in the United Kingdom. On the menu is “Latest News” and “Resource Library” with a submenu for “Clinical Guidelines.” In addition, there is a forum in which participants may connect with other physicians and healthcare providers.

AIDS Education and Training Centers (AETC) National Resource Center “provides education and training resources for the regional AETCs to support their mission to offer timely, high quality, state-of-the-art information to healthcare professionals working with existing and emerging populations affected by HIV.” The items on the menu are “Clinical Resources” and “Trainer Resources,” which have extensive submenus including: “Guidelines,” “Clinical Manual for Management of the HIV,” “Clinical Support Tools,” “Reference Material,” and “News.” These all drill down to well structured dissertations. The website is funded by the Health Resources and Services Administration.

The Free Interactive Atlas of Human Anatomy website has sites mirrored in North America and Europe which offer free interactive atlases of human anatomy described as having “. . . more than 1,500 slices from normal slices from normal CT and MR exam that were selected to cover the entire sectional anatomy of the human body. Images were labeled using Terminologia Anatomica. A user-friendly interface allows one to process through multi-slice image series combined with interactive textual information, 3D models and anatomy drawings.” It is split into “Head and neck,” “Thorax-abdomen,” and “Limbs,” and each section enables the selection of images by anatomic structures, planes, and threedimensional constructions, with scroll capabilities through the magnetic resonance imaging and computed tomography images using the mouse wheel. The website is owned and operated by Campus Medica and is authored by Antoine Micheau, MD, and Denis Hoa, MD. In each section there is an additional tab describing the module and the derivation of the image.

Visible proofs is from National Library of Medicine and is about the history of forensic medicine. The “Exhibition” tab has some interesting subsections, and illustrated cases are to be found under the “Galleries” tab. There is a library of audiovisual presentations listed under the “Education” tab. All in all, this is a rounded educational experience.

The Nuffield Council on Bioethics, London, UK, was established by the Trustees of the Nuffield Foundation in 1991 to identify, examine, and report on the ethical questions raised by recent advances in biologic and medical research. This is the publications download page and some of these interesting downloads are pertinent to medicine while others may be considered more peripheral. It has been funded jointly by The Nuffield Foundation, the Medical Research Council, and The Wellcome Trust.