Book Review

Indian Pediatrics 2000;37: 1163

A Guide to Internet for Doctors and Dentists 

Internet has made considerable impact in or lives, more so in the field of medicine. Far reaching changes have taken place in the accessibility to medical information, for doctors and patients alike. With over 30% of the information available in the internet related to health, it isd but natural that doctor’s learn how to derive the benefits of the internet. As large volumes of information are available, medical professionals need to be made aware of sources of genuine information and the ways to access it.

"A Guide to Internet for Doctors and Dentists", in 48 pages containing textual information, takes a novice on a tour of the world wide web. This book, presently in its second edition, explains in a simple language the origins and meaning of internet, the author has also added useful links in each of the chapters. This book also deals with basics of multimedia, email and the advantages of internet for medical professionals. The disadvantages of internet–including credentiality of information and information overload have been given due justice.

Concepts like www, FTP, Telenet, Usenet, Gopher, Archie and Veronica have also been dealt with lucidly. A large collection of links on various specialities in fields of medicine and dentistry have also been included. Though the book has an easy to read layout, more illustrations could have been incorporated. The links have some printing errors that could lead to ‘404-page not found’ message. In some instances, like the Lancet and NEJM, the URL’s have not been mentioned.

The recent advances in the field of internet and medicine, including web TV, wireless internet, intelligent devices and telemedicine could be included in the next edition. The important topic of child safety on the Internet– that is, the possible adverse influence on children and their prevention has not been dealt with. The ways of finding health related information also requires to be detailed. May be future editions will consider these aspects.

This book, will be of great help in initiating doctors to the internet and act as a guide to the various medical and dental sites on the world wide web.

C. Vidyashankar,
Pediatrician, Military Hospital,
Namkum, Ranchi, Bihar 834 010,
India.
E-mail: [email protected]