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MedlinePlus: New Dictionary and Goin' Local

Look It Up!!

For those of you who haven't seen MedlinePlus lately, the Dictionaries page has changed drastically. NLM has licensed the use of the Merriam-Webster Medical Dictionary for use on the MedlinePlus website. The Merriam Webster Medical Dictionary replaces the Dictionaries links.

Initiating a search by entering a word will open a new browser with a list of entries.

A pronounciation key is always present at the end of the entries.

In some instances the dictionary will supply a list of possible entries the user can select. This is helpful for mis-spellings or more so near-mis-spellings.

The Merriam-Webster Medical Dictionary contains entries for 60,000 words and phrases. The dictionary also offers brief biographical entries of names used in the medical language.

Other states coming - learn more

For some time MedlinePlus has been featuring local information for North Carolina residents. You have probably seen the Go Local links in the MedlinePlus topic pages. If you haven't experimented with this resource, it might be good to take a look and imagine such a set up for your own state.

When a user is at a topic page and selects the Go Local option a new browser opens up with a map and county listing of the state.

After users select a county they are given a list of agencies and/or health providers for the county in question. The screen also shows state-wide agencies and resources.

An elaborate cataloging and databasing system has been set up by the UNC Health Sciences Library and the UNC School of Information and Library Science. Resources and agencies are identified, selected, and records are created.

Over 900 organizations are represented in the database. Because of the subject cataloging within each record, lists of resources, health care providers, and other agencies that correspond to a topic can be generated.

NLM is assessing the use of the Go Local function in MedlinePlus and is considering adding other states. There are several models proposed as to where data is stored and where local pages are hosted. The folks at University of North Carolina assure us that there is plenty of work involved in identifying, selecting and creating records for the system.

Javier Crespo, Consumer Health Information Coordinator