[Consumer health web service at DIMDI].
The German Institute of Medical Documentation and Information (DIMDI) extended its Internet services targeted at patients in order to meet the rising interest of the public for understandable, high-quality medical information. Medical terminology is made clear to nonprofessionals by voluminous reference books such as the Roche Encyclopedia of Medicine. By using free offers, such as the possibilities to search in up-to-date medical literature and studies, laypersons can find valuable and quality assured information on their fields of interest. Graphic and film material, which is offered in the virtual medical video shop (VVFM), covers the en-tire spectrum of specific medical fields and brings the areas of prevention, diagnostics, therapy, aftercare as well as nursing care up for discussion. It is easy to find physicians, hospitals, and self-help groups. Future plans include an extension of the offer to a substantial database-supported information portal for health-related subjects, which will provide the public with simple and speedy access to the health information of the DIM-DI and other trustworthy providers under one interface.
Deutsches Institut für medizinische Dokumentation und Information, Köln. hasky@dimdi.de.
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Hasky-Günther
D003256:Community Participation; D019992:Databases as Topic; D005544:Forecasting; D005858:Germany; D006266:Health Education; D006801:Humans; D007255:Information Services; D016247:Information Storage and Retrieval; D020407:Internet