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Residents’ page
Jennifer Yau, MD
I
would like to share a quick and easy way to gain access to medical information, an area that is constant- ly expanding. The following key websites offer reliable sources and are available free of charge at any time.An electronic version of the well-known Merck Manualis available at www.merck.com/pubs/mmanual/
sections.htm. It is my first choice if I need to answer specif- ic questions. (Remember your preparation for Licentiate of the Medical Council of Canada, part 1?) In the same manner, you can consult the complete Iowa Family Practice Handbookat www.vh.org/Providers/ClinRef/
FPHandbook/FPContents.html.
My second suggestion is the new and very inter- esting site, WebMD, at www.webmd.ca. Available in English and French, it is a bridge to the Canadian Health Network, which contains an electronic version of Canadian Family Physician, access to MEDLINE, secure e-mail ser vice, and many other surprises to discover. To use it, you need an identification number and password (mailed not too long ago to all mem- bers of the College of Family Physicians of Canada and the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada). If, for any reason, you do not know your password, you can call 1-888-291-0767.
For those more comfortable working in French, an extensive medical network of associations is listed at www.sante-net.net/default.stm, the website of Sante-net Quebec.
Today evidence-based medicine is a trend gaining momentum. For this reason, clinical practice guidelines are becoming more popular for managing and treating
diseases. You can access some of these guidelines on the Canadian Medical Association’s website at www.cma.ca/cpgs/index.asp. An excellent site identifying recommended drugs is the Clinical Pharmacology 2000 website at www.cp.gsm.com/fromcpo.asp. You do have to register, but access is free.
I invite you to visit McGill University’s website, www.med.mcgill.ca/postgrad/ENGLISH/resinfotc.html, which contains specific information about the McGill Postgraduate Medical Residency and Fellowship Programs (including third-year programs).
As a dessert, you must try what I consider to be the best medical home page ever seen. Why? Because it is a “made-for-doctors” window that can be easily personalized: you can create direct links to your favourite websites depending on your needs. In addi- tion, you have access to MEDLINE, medical journals, and your e-mail service. To access, you can register as my colleague at www.docguide.com/dgc.nsf/ca/
Mcgill.Montreal.171.
Finally, I strongly recommend three other sites:
the Osler research tool, Medscape, and Cybermedic.
For the Osler research tool at www.cma.ca/osler, you have to get a user name and activation code by call- ing 1-800-457-4205. Medscape can be reached at www.medscape.com. Cybermedic at http://medes3.med.
umontreal.ca/MedWeb/Cyberm/cyberpp.htm is a French website created by medical students from the University of Montreal in Quebec.
All the websites mentioned seemed most interest- ing to me; however, there are plenty of other excellent
H
appy March! The days are getting longer, and I am pleased that I no longer walk to work in com- plete darkness. This leaves more daylight hours for me to sit by the computer and surf the World Wide Web. (And you probably thought I would be out enjoying the weather or something.)The amount of information available to us (and our patients) on the Internet has ballooned in a very short time. Finding useful and reliable medical information can be challenging and time-consuming. This month, Dr Ngo-Minh, a self-professed computer junkie, provides us with some direction in exploring medical cyberspace.
How to keep up-to-date with a click
Cuong Ngo-Minh, MD
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ones. For those of you reluctant to consult such sites, I simply say give it a try! You cannot really like or dis- like a cake if you have not tasted it at least once. I hope that this article will help you keep up-to-date.
Please feel free to send your comments or sugges- tions to cuong_ngominh@ssss.gouv.qc.ca.
Dr Ngo-Minh is assistant chief resident in the McGill Family Medicine program at the Gatineau Hospital in Quebec.
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