CHIC CHAT
MedlinePlus: New & Improved
Check out the fantastic new features on MedlinePlus. New features include:
- a long awaited "easy-to-read" page in both English and Spanish
- Spanish drug information from Medmaster
- a Spanish language daily newsfeed
- weekly listservs on specific health topics
- and a revised organizations page.
The "easy-to-read" page is a collection of all of the web pages from the Health Topics plus the Interactive Tutorials which are considered "easy-to-read". Who decides what qualifies as "easy-to-read"? The qualification of "easy-to-read" is determined by the websites themselves, not MedlinePlus. The "easy-to-read" web resources are also labeled individually as such on the Health Topics pages.
Link to MedlinePlus: "Easy-to-Read" page
http://nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/easytoread/easytoread_a.html
Another fantastic new feature to MedlinePlus is Spanish drug information by Medmaster. Note: all drugs do not have Spanish information available yet. Information is being added based on which drug topics are searched most frequently. To access the Spanish drug information, toggle to the page from the Espanol button. Here is an example of the Spanish drug page.
Link to Spanish Drug Information page:
MedlinePlus: Medicinas
http://nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/spanish/druginformation.html
A daily Spanish language newsfeed provided by Healthday is another new feature of MEDLINEplus. To access the Spanish newsfeed either click on News and then Espanol or click on Espanol and then Noticias.
Link to MedlinePlus Spanish News:
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/spanish/newsbydate.html
MedlinePlus is now providing several new current awareness services. New weekly listservs on specific health topics such as children, diabetes, mental health, seniors' health, and women's health are available. In addition, you may subscribe to MedlinePlus-NWS listserv which will send the daily newsfeed information from Healthday to your e-mail.
Link: MedlinePlus: E-mail Announcement Lists (English)
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/cgi/medlineplus/listserv.pl?lang=EN
Link: MedlinePlus: E-mail Announcement List (Spanish)
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/spanish/listserv.html
And last but not least…A revised organizations page, available from the "Other Resources" tab, now includes all organizations with pages with linked in MedlinePlus. The alphabetical pages include printer-friendly and email links.
Link: MedlinePlus Organizations beginning with "A"
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/organizations/organizations_a.html
And that's not all…
New features to be announced in the upcoming months include a new hospital directory and new "Go Local" state participants. A map link from listings of health resources will also be added.
Do you have questions on the new features in MedlinePlus?
Feel free to contact Michelle Eberle, Consumer Health Information Coordinator, at michelle.eberle@umassmed.edu or 508-856-2435.
