Pediatric Informatics: Computer Applications in Child Health (Health ...

190 P.W. Dalrymple et al.
Access to such resources may be provided through libraries of hospitals as a
service to physicians on medical or house staff. For clinicians with affiliation with
academic medical centers, remote access from community practices may also be
available through virtual private networks and secure connections. Ongoing costs
of subscription are borne by these institutions (which may be considerably higher
than for single subscribers) who monitor their usage closely.
Commercial packages that include online versions of traditional pediatric texts
as well as a variety of other resources are:
MD Consult (http://www.mdconsult.com, Elsevier) provides online and
mobile access to several dozen textbooks, including Nelson’s Pediatrics,
Harriet Lane Handbook and the Pediatric Clinics of North America in a
fully searchable format in addition to access to journals, drug information, medical
synopses, guidelines and patient education materials. It may be used on a
PDA and is available through personal or institutional subscription.
Stat!Ref (http://www.statref.com, Teton Data System) provides an online gateway
to health resources, including the evidence-based Physician Information
and Education Resource (PIER) created by the American College of Physicians
and Rudolph’s Pediatrics as well as tools such as calculators and decision
trees. It is available in a variety of formats through personal or institutional
subscription.
Books @Ovid (http://www.ovid.com/site/products/books_landing.jsp, Wolters
Kluwer Health) provides a large number of electronic texts including a pediatric
collection that includes Oski’s Pediatrics, 5-Minute Pediatric Consult and
subspecialty texts (in orthopedics, oncology and adolescent health). It is available
through personal, pay per view or institutional subscription.
UpToDate (http://www.uptodate.com/physicians/pediatrics_primary.asp,
UpToDate) provides disease-oriented physician-written summaries with a section
focused on pediatrics endorsed by the American Academy of Pediatrics
that can be used to earn CME credit. It provides succinct summaries that can
be readily used for patient care. It is available via Web, PDA or CD-ROM.
Subscriptions are priced for personal use, for a single workstation updated every
4 months via CD-ROM, or for a single institution (on-site only).
Pediatric Care Online (http://www.pediatriccareonline.org/pco/ub, Unbound
Medicine and the American Academy of Pediatrics) is an online resource
linked with the AAP textbook Primary Pediatric Care with open-source applications
for use in patient care. It is scheduled for release in 2008.
Free online resources are also available (some requiring registration):
E-Medicine (http://www.emedicine.com, WebMD) contains numerous current
articles and offers continuing education credits.
MerckMedicus (http://www.merckmedicus.com, Merck) is an online portal
that is free to licensed healthcare professionals (registration required). It provides
access to books and journals (through MDConsult), as well as diagnostic
and therapeutic tools such as DxPlain (epidemiologic-based decision support)