Internet resources for podiatric medical students.

This paper presents a selection of Internet resources covering most of the subject areas found in standard medical education curricula. Basic sciences sites are emphasized, but clinical resources are also included. Reported sites were judged based on their potential to enhance the learning process, provide practice questions or study guides for examinations, or aid in the preparation of papers. In addition to podiatric medical students, residents and practitioners who require a quick reference source to either the basic science foundations of podiatric medicine or the clinical side of podiatric practice may find this paper useful.

Non-librarian health professionals becoming librarians and information specialists: results of an Internet survey.

OBJECTIVES: To obtain basic information about non-librarian health professionals who become librarians and information specialists. METHODS: The survey was a Web-based questionnaire. A non-random sample of persons was obtained by posting messages to several large Internet electronic discussion groups. Individuals who met the selection criteria and were willing to participate filled out a Web-based form designed using common gateway interface (CGI) programming. RESULTS: 118 forms were analyzed. Three subgroups of participants were identified and statistical comparisons among these groups were carried out for many of the quantitative questions. Information concerning reasons they left their original field; factors influencing their choice of the field of library and information science; reactions of family, friends, and colleagues; and interactions with patrons and other information about this group was obtained and summarized. A health sciences background was seen as helpful in the new career as information specialist. Most people were happy with their new profession despite negative reactions from colleagues, relatives, and, occasionally, patrons. Feelings of regret and abandonment of their patients were noted by some. Many persons did not know that peers had made similar career changes. CONCLUSIONS: A health sciences background imparts an expertise in both the vocabulary and subject matter of medicine that non-biomedical individuals would not ordinarily have. Although becoming a librarian may be perceived as a very positive career change for an individual, societal opinion and pressure can make such a career change difficult. Nevertheless, participants in this survey demonstrate a high level of satisfaction with their new careers and are quite happy with their work.

Etiologic factors of acute aortic dissection in children and young adults.

Current concepts in the pathophysiology and predisposing conditions of acute aortic dissection in children, adolescents, and young adults are presented. Timely diagnosis is required for this life-threatening condition. Most children and adolescents with aortic dissection have congenital cardiovascular anomalies. Certain heritable disorders involving connective tissue also predispose to this disorder. Newer associations include cocaine abuse and weight lifting. To facilitate early diagnosis, the salient physical findings of the known predisposing conditions are reviewed. Clinical presentation and diagnostic imaging of aortic dissection are briefly summarized. Physicians working in an acute care setting, particularly in the emergency room, should be aware of disorders predisposing to acute aortic dissection in the pediatric and young adult population. Practitioners conducting school or college preparticipation sports evaluations can make use of such information in their assessment of risk for sudden death.

Wound-care resources on the Internet.

The Internet offers many resources in the area of wound and ulcer care that are of potential interest to podiatric physicians and students. This article provides an overview of World Wide Web sites that contain factual information, management guidelines, and illustrations pertaining to various aspects of wound and ulcer care. Web sites that emphasize preventive care are also reviewed. Because the prudent use of antimicrobial therapy is an important part of wound care, a few sites that offer antibiotic information are described.

Location and indexing of articles written by podiatric physicians.

This study was undertaken to determine which biomedical journals contain articles written by podiatric physicians and in which indexing sources such articles are likely to appear. A survey was conducted of the 20 most frequently published podiatrist authors from a selected group of podiatric journals during the period from 1990 to 1995. Articles published by these authors during the study period were examined to determine where they had appeared. The MEDLINE database was found to contain the largest number of citations to articles written by these podiatric physicians. Both the Podiatry Index and Embase are also very good sources of citations to podiatric medical literature and should be used to supplement MEDLINE searches.

Podiatric medical resources on the Internet.

The authors discuss Internet sites that provide information on podiatric medicine relevant to practitioners and students. Before going online, the podiatric health professional should be aware that the information located at these sites may vary in quality, reliability, and level of sophistication. A brief introduction to the history of the Internet is presented, along with useful sites and general medical resources.

The Internet and the pediatrician: should there be a connection?

The Internet, an extensive network of interlinked computers storing immense quantities of information, is growing exponentially. The author was interested in discovering what sources of information exist on this network that might be of importance to the pediatric health care provider. To accomplish this aim, a literature review was undertaken, relevant articles were studied, and the Internet and its own resources were used to seek out information that might be helpful to pediatric practitioners. Many interesting resources of potential importance to the pediatric health care provider were found and are described in this paper. Besides being an important storehouse of documents, images, and factual information, the Internet has, in addition, communication facilities, such as e-mail and Listserv, that make it a particularly useful resource. It seems prudent that all pediatric practitioners should have some form of access to the Internet.

The gay pediatrician: a report.

Since no articles in the medical literature could be found dealing with the subject of the gay pediatrician, a complete bibliographic search was conducted in order to find information about gay health professionals. Using both manual and computerized methods of access to information in many data bases, much pertinent material was found. Reports were accessed which demonstrated that gay pediatricians most certainly exist and that, in addition to their standard role in pediatric and adolescent medicine, they have special and unique contributions to make to the care of our nation's 2.9 million gay youth. Gay pediatricians need to be accepted as valuable professionals by peers and by society. Whenever possible, gay pediatricians need to act as role models to our gay youth. Pediatricians who happen to be gay have much to contribute to medicine.