Physician's Corner: Resources for Physicians
Navigating medical research, finding unbiased medical education and learning the skills to enable you to care for patients using the revolutionary principles emerging from that science is a difficult challenge whether you want to transform your practice, enhance your current knowledge base, or simply become more educated about treatments that more than half of your patients are seeking.
I humbly offer you some guideposts and resources that have helped me along the way. There are new opportunities for continuing medical education, new medical journals and new research emerging every day. Putting in it all in context is difficult. This corner will be a continually growing area of knowledge for your reference and a place to see what is happening in the field. I hope these resources will provide some guidance as you incorporate changes in your medical practice and care for our patients with intelligence and compassion.
Conferences
Educational Resources
- Clinical Nutrition: A Functional Approach
- Textbook of Functional Medicine [2005]
- Textbook of Natural Medicine by Joseph Pizzorno, ND
- Functional Medicine Update Monthly CD - Jeffrey Bland, Ph.D. [Sound clip and link to FMU - www.functionalmedicine.org]
- Jeff Bland Seminar Series (www.functionalmedicine.org)
- Proceedings from all previous Symposia of the Institute for Functional Medicine
- Audio Lectures/CD's
- Membership in the Institute for Functional Medicine and the participation in the IFM Forum for discussion of cases and topics.
Training Programs
Medical References and Articles
Physician Websites
http://medicine.iupui.edu/flockhart/
This site provides a table that is designed as a hypothesis testing, teaching and reference tool for physicians and researchers interested in drug interactions that are the result of competition for, or effects on, the human cytochrome P450 system.
PDR net for physicians
http://www.pdr.net/pdrnet/librarian/
Database containing 15 full text journals, PDR drug book, PDR drug interactions book. Medical news is also posted, and Medline can be accessed. Free to some health professionals.
MD consult
http://www.mdconsult.com
A library of 48 full text journals, 36 books, medical news, and Medline access.
Subscription. Free 10-day trial for physicians.
Medscape
http://www.medscape.com/px/splash
Access to 62 full text journals, many non-journal periodicals and professional publications, Medline, online medical textbooks, and journal scanning to extract highlights from recent literature within chosen fields. Conference listings; direct CME offerings; news items.
WebMD
http://www.webmd.com
Consumer-focused content. Medscape is their physician content site. This site provides access to a wide array of physician-focused and medical office Internet-based services.
Databases, Research, and Scientific Resources
Organizing Medical Networked Information (OMNI)
http://omni.ac.uk/
OMNI offers free access to a searchable catalogue of Internet sites covering health and medicine.
Merck Manual
http://www.merck.com/mrkshared/mmanual/home.jsp
This web site provides access to the 17th edition of the Merck Manual.
Harvard Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology
http://mcb.harvard.edu/Biolinks.html
This is a web site of the Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology at Harvard University offering biological resources/links.
Rosenthal Directory of Databases
www.rosenthal.hs.columbia.edu/Databases.html
This web site provides a compilation of established sources in the USA, Europe and Asia, designed to facilitate research by both professionals and the public. This may be clinical, biomedical, review, meta-analytical or survey research. Many of the databases listed do charge a fee.
MedWeb Plus
http://medwebplus.com/about.html
From the site: Our goal at MedWebPlus is to give users tools to quickly locate and assimilate good and reliable information covering the entire spectrum of healthcare. We have been described by others as a "healthcare Internet context provider." We provide the context for users to access content on the Web. There are over 50,000 Web sites dedicated to health-related topics, and an even greater number of sources in print off-line. It is often difficult to separate what is accurate, up-to-date, and reliable from what is not. Unfortunately many dubious, even blatantly fraudulent, sites exist on the Web. The task of integrating the reams of information available in a useful, simple and timely manner has become nearly impossible. There is a wealth of great information to be found, our goal is to provide the tools to find it.
National Organization for Rare Disorders-Rare Disease Database
http://www.rarediseases.org/
This is a web site provided by the National Organization for Rare Disorders, Inc. (NORD) that offers a database of rare diseases.
Cancer Detection and Prevention Online
http://www.cancerprev.org/
This is an International Society for Preventive Oncology (ISPO) web site that offers access to current and past issues of Cancer Detection and Prevention journals. $225 annual subscription fee. Some free browsing.
Pesticides, Metals, & Chemical
http://vm.cfsan.fda.gov/~lrd/pestadd.html
This is US FDA/Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition (CFSAN) web site provides information regarding pesticides, metals, and chemical contaminants in food(s).
BioMedNet
http://www.biomednet.com/
This is a web site that provides information for biological and medical researchers. It offers access to a full-text library (over 170 biological and medical journals), and BioMedLink (evaluated and annotated database of Internet resources for biological and medical researchers). Access to Medline reviews of 3500 websites. Free registration.
Medical Biochemistry Subject List
http://web.indstate.edu/thcme/mwking/subjects.html
This web site offers details on specific biochemistry and medical subjects.
Elsevier Science
http://www.elsevier.nl/
This web site provides access to purchasing of research publications and journals in the physical, life and social sciences.
The Lancet
http://www.thelancet.com/
British Medical Journal
http://bmj.com/
All articles of BMJ are available for free online - a tremendous resource.
Clinical Evidence
http://www.clinicalevidence.com/lpBinCE/lpext.dll?f=templates&fn=main-h.htm&2.0
Compendium of clinical evidence by BMJ contains best available evidence for effective health care. Free on-line access to the full text of the first issue.
"Getting Better with Evidence"
http://www.doh.gov.uk/ntrd/getbtr.htm
An evaluation of 17 UK projects that aim to put evidence into practice; generalizable lessons on what works and what doesn't when trying to change clinicians' behavior.
The ScHARR Guide
http://www.nettingtheevidence.org.uk/
A comprehensive introduction to Evidence Based Practice on the Internet.
NLM Clinical Trials Database
http://clinicaltrials.gov
Location, design, purpose, criteria and other information on NIH clinical trials.
PubMed
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/PubMed/
National Library of Medicine; free access to Medline.
USDA Nutrient Database
http://www.nal.usda.gov/fnic/cgi-bin/nut_search.pl
This interface allows simple searches on the USDA Nutrient Database.
General
National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM)
http://nccam.nih.gov
This is a NIH website which offers information regarding alternative therapies and access to Medline. Includes Consensus Reports, research, clinical trials, database links.
NIH Office of Dietary Supplements
http://odp.od.nih.gov/
The International Bibliographic Information on Dietary Supplements (IBIDS) is a NIH web site produced by the Office of Dietary Supplements (ODS). It offers a database of published, international, scientific literature on dietary supplements, including vitamins, minerals, and botanicals. Nice feature is that search can be limited to peer-reviewed publications.
Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM)
http://nccam.nih.gov/about/advisory/capcam/
This NIH Office of Alternative Medicine web site provides access to CAM methods, systems, and CAM & diseases.
Herb Research Foundation (HRF)
http://www.herbs.org/
This web site provides access to HRF, a nonprofit research and educational organization focusing on herbs and medicinal plants.
American Botanical Council's (ABC's) Herbal Information
http://www.herbalgram.org/
This web site provides information about herbs that have been compiled from a number of reputable scientific sources including the German Commission E Monographs, Botanical Safety Handbook, and numerous clinical trials that have been referenced in HerbalGram, their quarterly publication.
Healthfinder
http://www.healthfinder.gov
This web site provides consumer health and human services information developed by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. It provides access to selected online publications, clearinghouses, databases, web sites, and support and self-help groups.
Dr. C. Everett Koop
http://www.drkoop.com/
This is a consumer-focused interactive web site which provides users with comprehensive healthcare information on a wide variety of subjects, as well as access to medical databases, other publications, real-time medical news, interactive communities, interactive tools and opportunities to purchase healthcare-related products and services online.
NIH Consumer Health Information
http://health.nih.gov/
This web site provides access to consumer publication titles specific to certain conditions/diseases.
HealthGate
http://www.healthgate.com/
This web site provides patient and consumer information regarding drugs and vitamins, symptoms and medical tests, and general health. It also provides access to Medline. Provider of web-enabled technology and services for healthcare organizations, including hospitals.
Medherb
http://medherb.com/
This web site of Medical Herbalism, a quarterly journal of clinical herbalism. It provides links to medical information and to any resource relevant to medicinal herbs or herbalism practiced in clinical settings, plus sample articles on hundreds of herbs.
HerbNET
http://www.herbnet.com/
This web site provides information and sales of herbs, herb products and remedies, and herb publications.
The World Lecture Hall
http://www.utexas.edu/world/lecture/
This web site provides links to pages created by faculty worldwide who are using the web to deliver university-level academic courses in any language.
Food Allergy and Anaphylaxis Network (FAAN)
http://www.foodallergy.org/
This web site provides access to FAAN, a nonprofit organization established to increase public awareness about food allergy and anaphylaxis. It offers, among other things, a bimonthly newsletter, product alerts, and updates on food allergy.
Dr. Duke's Phytochemical and Ethnobotanical Databases
http://www.ars-grin.gov/duke/
Database of phytochemical ingredients for herbs and spices.
http://www.essentialfats.com
This web site presents information about the role of essential fatty acids in health and disease. It includes discussions on fatty acid analysis, research results, new diagnostic and treatment approaches of fatty acids in such areas as lipid abnormalities and inflammatory bowel disease.
http://vm.cfsan.fda.gov/~lrd/fdinter.html
This is a consumer-oriented website that discusses food and drug interactions in common terms that will be familiar to patients.
Resources in Integrative Medicine
Educational Sites:
Supplement Companies:
Laboratories:
- (see list in Medical and Health Resources)
Reference Books:
- The Textbook of Natural Medicine, Pizzorno, Churchill Livingston
- Clinical Nutrition, The Institute for Functional Medicine
- The Textbook of Functional Medicine, due out 2005
