1) Online medical resources have evolved from traditional print libraries to vast digital libraries accessible via the internet. Ideal online resources are evidence-based, frequently updated, easily accessible from any location, and integrated with electronic health records. 2) Physicians now use online tools like wikis and podcasts/audiocasts to collaborate with peers and stay up to date. Popular search engines like Google provide quick access to medical information, though specialized databases like PubMed remain important for formal literature searches. 3) As the depth and speed of online medical information continues growing, digital resources will become the primary library for clinicians worldwide.

1. Online Medical Resources, Search
Engines
Dr. Tanveer Abbas
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2. Learning Objectives
After reading this chapter the reader should be able to:
• State the challenges of staying current for the average clinician
• Describe the characteristics of an ideal educational resource
• Describe the evolution from the classic textbook based library
to the current online digital library
• Compare and contrast the different formats of digital libraries
• Describe the future of digital resources integrated with
electronic health records
• Describe emerging Web 2.0 technologies in medicine
• Identify the most commonly used free and commercial online
libraries
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3. What are the challenges clinicians face
today?
1) Educational Challenge
2) Specialty to Primary Care Manager
(PCM) Challenge
3) Translational Challenge
4) Evolutionary Challenge
5) Retention Challenge
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4. What are the challenges clinicians
face today? Contd…
1) Educational Challenge
• Standard medical textbooks are expensive and out of
date shortly after publication.
• Descriptions of diseases are not always updated.
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5. What are the challenges clinicians
face today? Contd…
2) Specialty to Primary Care Manager (PCM)
Challenge
• There is no standard way to distribute information
that is either reliable or particularly effective
• Once there is a new standard of care for a disease
such as diabetes, how do you get the word out,
particularly to small or remote medical practices?
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6. What are the challenges clinicians
face today? Contd…
3) Translational Challenge
• Translational research is scientific research that
helps to make findings from basic science useful for
practical applications.
• Studies have shown that it may take up to ten or
more years for research to be “translated” to the
exam room
• Recent studies often contradict older
studies due to better study design
and larger subject populations
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7. What are the challenges clinicians
face today? Contd…
4) Evolutionary Challenge
• We can no longer teach “classic medicine,” because
diseases and their presentations change over time
• Diseases were detected at more advanced stages in
the older literature, because lab tests were lacking.
• Currently we tend to diagnose diseases earlier,
before the patient has advanced
signs and symptoms due to better
and earlier tests.
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8. What are the challenges clinicians
face today? Contd…
5) Retention Challenge
• According to many studies there is an inverse
relationship between current knowledge and the
year of graduation from medical school.
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9. How have we evolved from the
traditional library to online resources?
• Before the start of the Internet physicians used print
resources for verifying actual information related to
patient care
• To provide the best care for their patients, physicians
still need to check drug information, differential
diagnosis tools, current textbooks, or the journal
literature, but instead of heading to the library they
turn to the Internet for answers.
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10. • The resources available online are far more extensive
than the personal libraries or hospital libraries that
physicians used in a print world.
• Recently publishers are experimenting with hybrid
journals that offer their most important content
online, while still publishing print issues.
• Today medical library collections are a mosaic of
print and online content
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11. Ideal medical resources are those that are:
• Evidence based with references and level of evidence
(explained in the chapter on evidence based medicine)
• Updated frequently
• Simple to access with a single sign-on
• Available at the point of care
• Capable of being embedded into an electronic health record
• Likely to produce an answer with only
a few clicks
• Useful for primary care physicians and
specialists
• Written and organized with the end user in mind
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12. New Tools are Available to Stay
Current in Medicine
• To keep medical practice current physicians need
new tools.
• These tools can be used to help physicians learn
about the very developments that will improve their
practice.
• Wikis allows physicians to collaborate to create peer-
reviewed content that is written and edited by
participating users.
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13. • The most famous general example is Wikipedia, but
several medical references such as AskDrWiki.com and
Ganfyd.org are being created and shared by participating
medical professionals.
• AskDrWiki controls the quality of its entries with strict
editorial policies and Ganfyd only allows credentialed
individuals to provide content.
• Keeping up with changes to important
websites can be challenging.
• Audiocasts (podcasts) and videocasts
offer educational programs, health news and
medical updates.
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14. Conclusion
• Online resources are becoming the medical library of
choice for healthcare workers due to depth of
content and speed of retrieval.
• Subject matter can be updated more rapidly
compared to standard textbooks.
• There are many free resources that should be
considered by all clinicians such as Epocrates Online,
MedlinePlus and Medscape.
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15. Search Engines
• The most rapid and comprehensive way to access
information today from anywhere in the world is a search
of the World Wide Web via the Internet.
• If we assume that the Internet is the new global library
with more than 3 billion web sites, then it should come
as no surprise that search engines are the gateway.
• Popular search engines such as Google provide successful
searches for medical and
non-medical issues.
• Familiarity with PubMed and its new
features is important for healthcare
workers who need to conduct formal
searches of the medical literature.
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16. Google
• Google is by far the most widely used search engine
in the world.
• Its name is derived from the word googol which is
the mathematical term for the number 1 followed by
100 zeroes.
• Google was developed by Larry Page and Sergey Brin
in 1996 when they were graduate students at
Stanford.
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17. • Google can be an acceptable medical search engine
for common as well as rare conditions that are not
likely to be found in journals or textbooks.
• Google Scholar is an offspring of Google that
searches the full text of peer-reviewed scholarly
journal articles at publishers’ websites
• Google is the premier search engine for non-medical
and perhaps medical searches.
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