MedlinePlus

MedlinePlus is an online information service produced by the United States National Library of Medicine. The service provides curated consumer health information in English and Spanish.[1] The site street together information from the National Library of Medicine (NLM), the National Institutes of Health (NIH), other U.S. government agencies, and health-related organizations. There is also a site optimized for display on mobile devices, in both English and Spanish. In 2015, about 400 million people from around the world used MedlinePlus.[2] The service is funded by the NLM and is free to users.

MedlinePlus provides encyclopedic information on health and drug issues, and provides a directory of medical services. MedlinePlus Connect links patients or providers in electronic health record (EHR) systems to related MedlinePlus information on conditions or medications.

PubMed Health[3] is another NLM site that offers consumer health information, in addition to information for health professionals.

History

The National Library of Medicine has long provided programs and services for professional medical scientists and health care providers, including MEDLINE and the various services that access it, such as PubMed and Entrez. By the 1990s, more members of the general public were using these services as Internet access became widespread.[4] But nonprofessional users could benefit from reliable health information in a layperson-accessible format.[5][6][7] The National Library of Medicine introduced MedlinePlus in October 1998, to provide a non-commercial online service similar, for example, to the commercial WebMD. In 2010 another NCBI service, PubMed Health, complemented MedlinePlus in offering curated consumer health information; PubMed Health focuses especially on finding information about clinical effectiveness of treatments.[8]

MedlinePlus initially provided 22 health topics in English, which expanded to almost 1000 health topics in English and Spanish, plus links to health information in over 40 languages. MedlinePlus was recognized by the Medical Library Association for its role in providing health information.[9] The site scored 84 in the American Customer Satisfaction Index for 2010.[10]

References

  1. ↑ "Medlineplus.gov en español" (in Spanish).
  2. ↑ "MedlinePlus Statistics". National Institutes of Health.
  3. ↑ National Library of Medicine, PubMed Health.
  4. ↑ Naomi Miller, M.L.S., Systems Librarian, Eve-Marie Lacroix, M.S., Chief, Public Services Division, and Joyce E. B. Backus, M.S.L.S., Systems Librarian (January 2000). "MEDLINEplus: building and maintaining the National Library of Medicine's consumer health Web service". Bulletin of the Medical Library Association (BMLA). 88 (1): 11–7. PMC 35193 Freely accessible. PMID 10658959.
  5. ↑ Marill JL, Miller N, Kitendaugh P (January 2006). "The MedlinePlus public user interface: studies of design challenges and opportunities". Journal of the Medical Library Association. 94 (1): 30–40. PMC 1324769 Freely accessible. PMID 16404467.
  6. ↑ Miller N, Lacroix EM, Backus J (Mar–Apr 2001). "The making of Medlineplus". Public Libraries. 40 (2): 111–3.
  7. ↑ Miller N, Tyler RJ, Backus JE (Fall 2004). "MedlinePlus: The National Library of Medicine brings quality information to health consumers" (PDF). Library Trends. 53 (2): 375–88. Retrieved 2009-06-08.
  8. ↑ Miles, Alisha (July 2011), "PubMed Health", J Med Libr Assoc, 99 (3): 265–266, PMC 3133896 Freely accessible, doi:10.3163/1536-5050.99.3.018.
  9. ↑ "Thomson Reuters/Frank Bradway Rogers Information Advancement Award". Medical Library Association. Retrieved 5 August 2016.
  10. ↑ "ACSI Scores for U.S. Federal Government". The American Customer Satisfaction Index. 2010.
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