MedlinePlus Connect Enhancement
On Wednesday, October 12, the National Library of Medicine will enhance the MedlinePlus Connect Web service response for problem/diagnosis codes by adding selected links to related information for patients. The Web service response for problem/diagnosis codes already returns the health topic name, URL, synonyms, summary, and summary attribution. This enhancement will expand the information in the response to include supplemental links related to the specific health topics provided in the response. These are the same links that MedlinePlus Connect already provides on the Web application response page, beneath the abbreviated health topic summary in bulleted list format. You can see an example of these links on the Web application response page for ICD-9-CM code 493.22.
This enhancement only affects the Web service response for problem/diagnosis codes (ICD-9-CM, SNOMED-CT). There will be no changes to the Web application response and no changes to the Web service response for lab tests or medications.
Special Instructions for Current Users of the MedlinePlus Connect Web Service:
In the Web service response XML, the new links will appear in the
The range of related links associated with health topics in the MedlinePlus Connect Web service response will vary from zero to dozens, depending on the health topic. On average, health topics will have four to five related links assigned to them. Users may choose to display all of the links or code their applications to only display a certain number of links. As an example, the MedlinePlus Connect Web application response page only displays a maximum of five related links and gives users the option to “see more” to view the entire list. You can see an example of this expandable/collapsible menu formatting on the Web application response page for ICD-9-CM code 493.22. Users that prefer not to display this new content should consider suppressing the links in the new “NLMrelatedLinks” class through the use of style sheets. Please contact us if you have questions or concerns about this enhancement.
We encourage you to sign up for the email list for more updates about MedlinePlus Connect.
