Docnotes

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving!

His claim to fame is

His claim to fame is alternative medicine, and Andrew Weil's Q & A Archive is a good example of the very clear patient information he provides on a variety of topics on his website. The site is heavy on the advertising, but I find his views refershing.

Free CME online from your

Free CME online from your pals at the CDC

The Library of the National

The Library of the National Medical Sociey is an interesting website. Lots of clinically useful stuff here. It's organized by the folks who publish the Current Clinical Strategies books .. those pocket-sized books with suggested admission orders for many common problems, etc. It's a subscription site, but the annual fee ($9.95) is nominal. I'm not sure that I would agree that the "journals" are in fact journals. While there is no advertising, there is also no mention of peer review, and the "articles" appear many times. For example, the same Sinusitis article appears in the "Journal of Medicine" and the "Journal of Pediatrics" and the "Journal of Family Medicine."
Still, there are many well written, concise summaries to common clinical problems. The "online diagnosis" is a fun decision tool. While it doesn't rival Dxplain or QMR, it is a demonstration of both the complexity and potential utility of decision support.

GeneralPediatrics.com is a good place

GeneralPediatrics.com is a good place to quickly find useful pediatric links.

More full text: The Lancet has full text available once you register for free.

LUMEN - the Loyola

LUMEN - the Loyola University Medical Education Network has a number of valuable resources on the web. I was most impressed with their educational modules on the Screening Physical Exam

The folks at LSU Deparment

The folks at LSU Deparment of Family Medicine and Comprehensive Care have published the Outpatient Management Manual from their Comprehensive Care Clinic on the web. It's a great resource for primary care educators. I found it on David Theige's site: Med-Ed News.

In the context of an

In the context of an EMR (Electronic Medical Record) market that may soon be controlled my a few very powerful vendors, there is a growing movement toward open source medical records systems.

This is exciting stuff. Doctor-Geeks (a rare breed!) are working together to create robust systems together. Free Practice Management and Freemed are two examples of such projects.

Of course there are more

Of course there are more recent discussions of screening than USPSTF. Though the next edition is in in the works, it won't be complete until 2002.

The link that I gave yesterday for the full text of the 1996 version is from Columbia University. I prefer their interface to the version at the NLM.

The National guideline clearinghouse is

The National guideline clearinghouse is a good place to start if you are looking for a good guideline like this one. But (a common theme with government websites?) the layout of the documents leaves a lot to be desired. I prefer the layout of the same guideline at another good resource for guidelines, ICSI's website.