Members of the NARIC staff have been exploring the new Medpedia website. The site is a project of several universities and professional organizations:

“The Medpedia Project is a long-term, worldwide project to evolve a new model for sharing and advancing knowledge about health, medicine and the body among medical professionals and the general public. This model is founded on providing a free online technology platform that is collaborative, interdisciplinary and transparent.

Users of the platform include physicians, consumers, medical and scientific journals, medical schools, research institutes, medical associations, hospitals, for-profit and non-profit organizations, expert patients, policy makers, students, non-professionals taking care of loved ones, individual medical professionals, scientists, etc.” Medpedia About page

Anyone can read the articles. Members of the surfing public can sign up to comment and suggest topics. Health professionals (PhD or MD) can sign up as writers and editors (and they do check).

Articles range from brief descriptions to seeded content from institutes (NIH) and organizations, to in-depth clinical discussions. Topics include specific pharmaceuticals, alternative therapies and treatments, conditions, and disorders. The Medpedia community includes groups of like-minded users focused on specific health conditions, treatments, research, or policy issues. There are articles for many disabilities, but it could use more (i.e. spinal cord and brain injury, prosthetics and orthotics, physical therapy). If you’re a health professional, consider signing on as an editor!