| REVIEWS
Cruising
Cyberspace
Web
Site Pick Of The Month
By Pam Wegmann
As business people,
we spend a lot of time taking care of business. Along the way, we
need to take care of ourselves, too. Technology helps us in this area,
through breakthrough treatments and medications, the results of knowledge
gained through research.
While surfing the
Net in preparation for this issue, I happened upon this month's subject
site. It's not the site of a big entity like we usually review, but instead
it struck me as sort of a different aspect of the use of technology in
medicine in Louisiana. It's one medical practitioner's "cyber mission"
to make Louisianians and others healthier by being better informed about
their own health. The site's mission is to provide information and education
for making medical choices and having more intelligent conversations with
our health care providers. And it's not provided by some large health care
concern, but instead by a single practitioner. Dr. Ted's Medical Web is
located at
http://www.i-55.com/~thudspeth
This is Dr. Thomas
Hudspeth's Web site. His office is in a small rural community about
a half hour from the northern outskirts of New Orleans. His site
has room for improvement, but rather than just put up a cyberbrochure,
he gets kudos for stuffing the site with valuable information links and
features. The site is simple, well organized and easy to navigate.
The Home Page contains
a significant list of links on various medical topics such as pediatrics,
heart and lung, cancer, etc. Following the links takes you to the sites
of associations, hospitals, institutes and government agencies where you
have a good chance of finding what you need to know. Two of my favorite
links are "Information Rich Medical Sites" and "My Favorites." Both
lead to sites rich with information for those seeking knowledge on an illness,
condition or area of medicine. One of the links is to Medline, a
commercial database of important medical literature.
At the Educational
Handouts page you can download or print out brochures on topics such as
the flu, exercise, or osteoporosis. The only problem is that the list of
available brochures is fairly short. Herein, lies one of the faults with
this site. The foundation is great, but pages other than the Links need
more depth and breadth.
The site hosts a
Medical Bulletin Board where people can read or post messages or reply
to posted messages (which grow into "threads," a string of messages on
a given topic). Here, technology is being used to facilitate
communication among
people with common medical questions and concerns. It can help you find
someone to talk to.
His Case Of The Week
is not weekly, but he does respond to a mailbag question, citing
additional specific links. Dr. Ted's Medical Web also hosts a Chat Room.
Lastly, Dr. Hudspeth
has a link called Computers in Medicine at which he makes a plug to his
fellow practitioners for the integration of full database technology in
one's daily practice, citing the benefits to the patient's total care.
While this site has
more potential and needs to be updated more often, it's yet another example
of how technology can be used directly to further the health of all of
us.
February, 1999
Knowledge is Power!
Happy cruising! :-)
Questions/Comments
can be sent to pam@info-matters.com
or faxed to 504.738.0016. You can also reach Ms. Wegmann at 504.738.0070.
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