Browsing Basics

• If you aren't familiar with this browser, take a few minutes to familiarize yourself with the menu bar, as well as the icons in the button bar below the menu bar. These icons provide easy access to some basic functions such as printing, jumping to a different site, going back to retrace your steps, etc.
• Now try clicking on the back and forward keys to see what they do.
• Use your mouse to point at different items on the menu, the button bar, or on any of the items in the pulll-down menu and notice the abbreviated description of the command that appears in the lower left corner of the browser window.
• Finally click on the Bookmarks (Netscape) or Favorites (Explorer) pull menu and notice how you can jump to a website by selecting an item from this menu. Select Add Bookmark and note that the current page appears at the bottom of the bookmark list.

• If you are viewing this document on the web, you will be able to click on the links in this page and jump to the sites without having to type in any of the URLs.  For this first one, try typing it in yourself.  Depending on your browser (Netscape, Explorer, etc.) select Open, Open Page or Open location from the File menu.  In the box that appears type the American Academy of Family Physicians' URL:.

Then click OK.  After the page appears, click on Other Sites. Scroll down to view some of the links under the categories of Clinical Resources, Government, and Medical Associations, among other topics. Click open a link to another site. Click on your Back button and explore other links or choose another subject.

Explore other areas of the AAFP web site.

• Specialty society pages. Link to an organization of your choice by clicking on one of the addresses below, or hold down the CTRL key, type L, and type in the address.

American Academy of Dermatology
        www.aad.org
American Academy of Otolaryngology
        www.entnet.org
American Academy of Pediatrics
        www.aap.org
American Academy of Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation
        www.aapmr.org
American College of Cardiology
        www.acc.org
American College of Emergency Physicians
        www.acep.org
American College of Physicians
        www.acponline.org
American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists
        www.acog.org
American Academy of Ophthalmology
        www.eyenet.org
Radiological Society of North America
        www.rsna.org

Once you are at the site, explore the features of your choice. You may want to look for and/or answer the following questions:

Does the site require registration?
Are there private/members only sections?
Is it easy to navigate? Is there a way to search the entire site?
Does it allow for communication? (i.e., is there a link to e-mail the organization?)
Does it contain information of use to me in my practice?
Are there helpful links to other related web sites?

• Government sites

• Check the recommendations on malaria prophylaxis for a patient traveling to Botswana. Connect to the Centers for Disease Control web site:

Scroll down and click on Travelers' Health
Click on the graphic labelled Graphical Travel Map.
Click on the Southern Africa.
Now read about hte vaccination requirements for travel to Botswana.

• Find information on a new drug Penlac which is a topical treatment for onychomycosis on the Food and Drug Administration's web site.

Click on Human Drugs
Click on Drug Information in the left column
In the top category New prescription and Drug Approvals click on FDA Drug Approvals List
Scroll down and findPenlac

• Also from the FDA, find information about a new device which removes blood clots from coronary arteries.

Back up to the FDA homepage
Click on Search
Type in the phrase device AND coronary AND clots
Leave Search All of FDA highlighted
Click on Search
Scroll down to find the article.

• Find information on the recently released study which uses ultrasonography to predict heart attack and stroke risk.

www.nih.gov

Scroll down and click on Institutes and Offices
Scroll down and click on National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute
Click on News & Press Releases
Click on the January 1999 document on the Ultrasonography study

• Find information on your county's health profile and compare it to the rest of the state at the Minnesota Department of Health.

www.health.state.mn.us

In the left column, click on Health Statistics
Scroll down to the section on Vital Statistics
Click on Go online with the 1998 Minnesota County Health Profiles
Click on County in the Choose an Area box. Then click Enter Choice
Select a county by clicking in the map
Select a topic and then click Enter Choice
Explore some of the other features on the site

• Search for a practice guideline about the management of a first-time urinary tract infection in a child under 6 from the National Guideline Clearinghouse.

www.guideline.gov

Type Urinary tract infection into the Search box
Click on Submit
Scroll down through the results until you see the article of interest
Click on the article.

This is provides information about clinical practice guidelines and recommendations from all aspects of medical care.  Most of the guidelines are full text.  The database can also be searched by browsing diseases, treatments, or by organization. Simply click on any of these options from the main page.

• Search for financial information on a charitable organization at the Minnesota Attorney General's Site such as the Minnesota Academy of Family Physicians Foundation.

www.ag.state.mn.us

Click on Charities
Click on Search the charities database
Scroll down to the search form
Type in Minnesota Academy
Leave the city and state fields blank.
Click on Find
Click on Minnesota Academy of Family Physicians Foundation
Select Most current year
Click on Show me

News

• Connect to the home page of the Star Tribune.

Click on the Health section (under Variety in the left-hand column).
 

• Connect to NewsRounds.

Browse some of the articles on the news page.
 

• Connect to ABC News.

Click on Health & Living
 

• Connect to CNN News

Click on Health

Journals

• Connect to JAMA or one of the Archives journals via the AMA website.

Free full-text for 1999 and 2000 issues will be offered for a limited.  Articles are available in PDF so they appear just as they do in the print journal. AMA will begin charging for these online journals in March.

• Connect to the British Medical Journal web site.

• Connect to the Journal of Family Practice (JFP) and Journal Club.

This expanded site includes JFP materials and all JFP Journal Club (POEM - Patient Oriented Evidence that Matters) reviews, as well as extensive links to medical sites and software reviews.
 

• Connect to the New England Journal of Medicine web site.

In one or more of these sites, open a current issue and browse the articles.

Find information for a patient newly diagnosed with Guillain-Barre Syndrome. Try the Healthfinder web site.

Click on index
Click on G
Using the pull-down box, select Guillain-Barre Syndrome
Open some links
 

Look for information on Xenical. Try the RxList - The Internet Drug Index.

Search for information on Xenical.
When you are done, go back to the main page and look at the Top 200 Prescriptions for 1998
 

Find patient information on prostate cancer. Try the Oncolink web site.

cancer.med.upenn.edu

Click on Disease Oriented Menus.
Click on Adult Cancers.
Click on Genitourinary (Male) Cancers.
Click on Prostate.
Browse through listings.
Click on patient information.
 

Another excellent site for cancer information is the CancerNet resource at the National Cancer Institute

www.nci.nih.gov
 

Find support group/chat group for parents of a child with Tourette Syndrome. Try the Family Village web site. Click on the link below or hold down the CTRL key, type L, and type the address.

Click on Library
Click on Specific Diagnosis
Click on S/T
Scan the alpha list for Tourette Syndrome
Click open some sites
 

Look for a cardiologist in Butte, Montana. Go to the American Medical Association web site. Click on the link below or hold down the CTRL key, type L, and type the address.

Click on Doctor Finder
Click on Search by name or medical specialty.
Click on ACCEPT.
Click on Medical Specialty.
Fill in form.

Find a meeting at the Doctor's Guide to the Internet web site. Click on the link below or hold down the CTRL key, type L, and type the address.

Scroll down and click on Medical conferences
Click on View conferences by subject
Click on a subject of your choice
Click on a conference of your choice

Use your browser's Back icon to return to the page where you can click on View conferences by date/location
Search for a conference in a warm climate in February, 1999
 

MEDLARS searching

Go to the National Library of Medicine

Click on Search Medline free
Click on PubMed
Conduct some straightforward searches in the Basic Search mode (this is the default).
Some examples might include:

Cenestin
strength training and the elderly
articles by ME DeBakey

Then try using the Advanced Search mode (select Advanced in the left-hand column on the PubMed home page). This will allow you to specify the database fields that you want to search. You can also open an index list of your terms by selecting the List Terms, instead of Automatic, option.
Other search examples might include:

review articles on vaginal births after cesarean
vascular complications in the diabetic elderly

Search on any other topics of your choice.