Shopping around the internet today and tomorrow: towards the millennium of cybermedicine
BMJ 1999; 319 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.319.7220.1294 (Published 13 November 1999) Cite this as: BMJ 1999;319:1294
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Dear Sir,
I read with interest Dr Russell's response to the article, "Shopping
around the internet today and tomorrow: towards the millennium of
cybermedicine" and, in particular, his comments on the "differing opinions
& guidelines between medical practice in the UK & overseas [and
that] it can also be difficult to find quality medical sites with
traditional search engines, especially for those seeking UK-specific
information."
In response to this, Health-Media.Net Ltd has established the UK's
leading online health news service at www.health-news.co.uk
For further information, please contact:
Richard Hollis
Sales Director
Health-Media.Net,
3 Baker's Row,
London
EC1R 3DB
Tel: 0207 689 6660
Fax: 0207 689 8969
www.health-news.co.uk
richard.hollis@health-news.co.uk
Competing interests: No competing interests
Cyber medicine helps a doctor to do away with the intense
interrogation by patients before and after treatment. Some sensible
physician may simplify the medical treatment by informing the patients of
its trade secret. The following could be it. We doctors unfailingly assume
that the diseases are due to infection for which antibiotics are
necessary. The antibiotics do not have either target specificity or
microorganism specificity. Since the practice among the physicians now is
using broad-spectrum antibiotics, self-treatment or physician assisted
treatment it does not matter!
Next, painkillers and fever medicines could be taken whenever
necessary for which physician's consultation is a waste of time and money.
Next, when there is inflammation, swelling and pain any anti-
inflammatory drug is of benefit since these drugs are not prescribed based
on individual's specificity.
Next if there is allergy the patients may be informed of a few
symptoms and a few anti histamine drugs that every patient knows by this
time.
And finally, a vitamin supplement.
Thus cyber medicine may cater to suffering individual's evidence
based medicine in the early stages of the disease or any ordinary day-to-
day problems.
Competing interests: No competing interests
Dear Sir,
I read the article,"Shopping around the internet today and tomorrow:
towards the millennium of cybermedicine" with interest.
A current factor of online medicine today is the differing opinions
& guidelines between medical practice in the UK & overseas. It can
also be difficult to find quality medical sites with traditional search
engines, especially for those seeking UK-specific information.
In response to this, Medic8.com has been established & is
available online. Medic8.com is a medical portal for UK health
professionals on the internet, offering a directory of peer-reviewed
medical resources online. UK & Worldwide resources can be found
easily, being grouped by specialty & by subject, with UK sites clearly
identified. Free web-based email is also available for those who want
worldwide access to secure, personal email.
Medic8.com can be found at www.medic8.com/
For further information, please contact:
Dr. Russell Potter, Director of Medic8.com
Email: director@medic8.com
Tel: 0161 833 0830
Medic8.com - Your search for good health starts here.
Competing interests: No competing interests
Instead of using the label cybermedicine, I recommend the term
medinfonautics. Cyber and Tele will soon mean the same thing since
digital convergance is occurring.
I can really relate to this article. My sister has swollen
ventricles in her head that is causing constant headache(s) and numbness
in her face and her doctors haven't been able to diagnos it yet. So I am
researching it myself. I guess "two heads are better than one."
Joel Lutes
Public Services Librarian
Pacific Union College Library
jlutes@puc.edu
Competing interests: No competing interests
Update--Hidradenitis Suppurativa Physician/Patient resource
The Hidradenitis Suppurativa Foundation, Inc. (HSF), a charitable
organization, is a worldwide patient/physician partnership which fosters and
encourages research by developing and supporting an interdisciplinary family
of scientists and physicians devoted to studying HS and its molecular and
cellular basis.
(The cybermedicine site listed as a resource for Hidradenitis Suppurativa
in the table of G. Eysenbach's interesting article no longer exists).
Regards,
Robert Howes
Hidradenitis Suppurativa Foundation, Inc.
URL: http://hs-foundation.org/
Competing interests:
None declared
Competing interests: No competing interests