Internet Resources for Podiatric Medical Students

Abstract

This article presents a selection of Internet resources covering most of the subject areas found in standard medical education curricula. Basic-sciences sites are emphasized, but clinical resources are also included. Sites were evaluated on the basis of their potential to enhance the learning process, provide practice questions or study guides for examinations, or aid in the preparation of papers. Podiatric medical students, residents, and practitioners who require a quick reference guide to sources covering the basic-science foundations of podiatric medicine or the clinical side of general medicine may find this article useful.

The continued abundance of educational resources offered at no cost to health-profession students through the technology of the Internet makes updating of my previous article[1] on this topic necessary. As stated in that article, many of these Web sites are products of academic institutions, some are government-sponsored, and, not surprisingly, some are the result of the hard work of medical students or student organizations. Listed here are high-quality Internet sites that can provide quick access to materials that may be of use to podiatric medical students, residents, and practitioners who require a quick reference guide to sources covering the basic-science foundations of podiatric medicine or the basics of clinical medicine. Some of these educational tools can provide additional features to the learning process and thus enhance the educational experience. All Web addresses were updated and functional as of the time of this writing. Readers should note that free Web sites are emphasized in this report. Web sites that require a fee for all services are not presented here. A few sites reviewed here do charge for some content but make available other useful material at no charge.

The information presented on all of the Web sites mentioned here must be carefully evaluated by the individual user. I have attempted to list authoritative sites only, but each student or practitioner should judge their usefulness personally. It should be noted that graphics, video clips, sound files, or other digital items on Web pages are the intellectual or artistic creations of people or groups and thus may be protected by copyright law. Although these items may be freely available and easily downloaded, distributing such work to others may be prohibited. The United States Copyright Office Web site contains practical information about copyright law.[2]

Basic-Sciences Web Sites

Table 1 lists selected basic-sciences Web sites. As in the previous article, most of the subject areas covered in the first 2 years of the typical podiatric medical curriculum have been included. Academic areas emphasized include anatomy, biochemistry, embryology, genetics, histology, immunology, microbiology, pathology, pharmacology, and physiology.

ePodiatry.com is an exceptional podiatric learning tool that has a section devoted to “Educational Resources.” This treasure house of information sources covers virtually all of the basic-science areas relevant to the podiatric medical student. Topics that are not even mentioned on most basic-science Web sites, such as biomechanics, are thoroughly covered here. Every podiatric medical student should be familiar with this remarkable site, which is produced by ePodiatry.com, located in Sydney, Australia.

Table 1. Basic-Sciences Resources on the Web

Table 1. Basic-Sciences Resources on the Web

MedicalStudent.com was discussed in my previous article on Internet resources for podiatric medical students, but is again singled out because of its excellence and currency. Every student should bookmark this metasite, which offers a comprehensive listing of basic-science and clinical-medicine Web sites. This site is produced by Michael P. D’Alessandro, MD, of the Department of Radiology at the University of Iowa, Iowa City.

PCI Health Training Center is based in Dallas, Texas. The PCI Health Training Center is the copyright holder of this site, and it maintains an extensive list of links to basic- and clinical-sciences sites. These links can be found by clicking on “Resources” from the home page.

ECG Library is a site dedicated to the electrocardiogram in health and disease. Explanatory notes accompany the excellent examples. This site is created and copyrighted by Dean Jenkins and Stephen Gerred in Cardiff, Wales. Examples are presented for a multitude of ECG abnormalities, and the succinct notes make for easy review of the essentials.

A Web site whose primary purpose is to provide products, services, and resources to assist health-care students and professionals with their studies and careers is ValueMD, produced by ValueMD, Inc, located in Poublsbo, Washington. The medical mnemonics section is truly excellent, covering the subject areas of anatomy, biochemistry, osteology, and physiology, as well as many clinical topics. A section called “Value Links” provides a large listing of links to Web sites in the basic and clinical sciences. Just below these hyperlinks are useful comments by students who have actually used these learning tools. Chat rooms and many other features are also available for students at this well-constructed site.

USUHS Medical Biochemistry Exams is maintained by Robert W. Williams, PhD, of the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences in Bethesda, Maryland. As it is sponsored by the US government, there is no copyright on this material. Numerous practice examinations with answers are presented by general topic within the field of biochemistry. One can also find questions in very specific areas such as amino acids, protein sequencing, pH/pK, and many others.

Medical Students USMLE Guide — A Student Doctor’s Resource, previously the Medical Student Resources Guide, has many hyperlinks, some of which are fee-based. For example, the user can get help with writing the personal statement for a residency application, but prices for this service range from $49.95 to $299.95. A wonderful free service is the “Study Guide” section, which provides many links to sites in the basic and clinical sciences. The site is produced by StudentDoc.com, located in San Francisco, California.

Microbiology Textbook has replaced Microbiology Webbed-Out. Recently added to this site is a news feature that provides links to current news in microbiology and related subjects. Unfortunately, some of the material on diseases has been omitted from this new version of the online textbook. However, a new search engine makes finding information easier in this comprehensive free textbook, copyrighted by Timothy Paustian of the University of Wisconsin in Madison.

The Whole Brain Atlas is not only a great stockpile of knowledge and images on neuroanatomy but a place to view radiologic images of diseases of the brain. Besides a presentation of normal anatomy, including three-dimensional slices using magnetic resonance imaging/positron emission tomography, clinical presentations are given for a great number of cases. Hyperlinks lead to pertinent discussions such as “Neuroimaging of Brain Hemorrhage.” This site is authored and copyrighted by Keith A. Johnson, MD, and J. Alex Becker of Harvard University and Massachusetts Institute of Technology, respectively, in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

THCME Medical Biochemistry Page, reviewed in the previous article, has become THE Medical Biochemistry Page. This site is constantly updated, so students will find the most current material here. Excellent illustrations and selective text highlighting make this a very user-friendly page from which to study medical biochemistry. This site is copyrighted by Michael W. King, PhD, of the Indiana University School of Medicine in Terre Haute.

Available at no cost is an online journal produced by the American Medical Association in Chicago, Illinois, entitled Virtual Mentor. This ethics journal covers a wide variety of interesting topics, including health law. Examples of issues covered include child abuse, disparities in health care, clinical competence, and ethics committees. Students taking an ethics course or practitioners interested in keeping up with current ethics issues may find this to be a fascinating and useful journal.

STATS is a biostatistics teaching site that explains concepts such as sensitivity, specificity, P value, and much more. Research methodology, the handling of data, performing statistical analyses, and a host of other topics are described in detail. This site is authored by Steve Simon, PhD, and copyrighted by Children’s Mercy Hospital in Kansas City, Missouri.

The site of the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine offers a wealth of information on various aspects of this increasingly popular topic. The site is highly authoritative and offers alerts and advisories on drug interactions and side effects that any clinician may need to know. This site could also complement any pharmacology course. It is created by a US government organization and therefore is not copyrighted.

The Harvard School of Public Health has created The Nutrition Source: Knowledge for Healthy Eating. A great supplement to any course or course section devoted to nutrition, this site is loaded with information that can benefit the student or practitioner personally. This authoritative site is copyrighted by Harvard College in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

USMLE Board Readiness Site, produced and copyrighted by Creighton University School of Medicine in Omaha, Nebraska, is a great place to obtain practice test questions and answers. Basic and clinical sciences are covered in the “Step 1,” “Step 2,” and “Step 3” areas.

Although not a basic-science site per se, the American Podiatric Medical Students’ Association (APMSA) site has much to offer the student and deserves to be mentioned. Professional purchase programs are available to members with Asics, Birkenstock, and Primal Pictures (Interactive Foot & Ankle CD-ROM). This site is copyrighted by the APMSA in Bethesda, Maryland. A similar site is the Student National Podiatric Medical Association site, which identifies and discusses issues relevant to the minority student. A newsletter is forthcoming at this site, and there is an opportunity for scholarship awards. This site is copyrighted by the National Podiatric Medical Association in Chicago, Illinois.

Clinical Web Sites

Table 2 lists selected clinical Web sites. The USMLE Board Readiness Site discussed above also covers many areas of clinical medicine. Particularly interesting are the many links to sites with patient simulations, located in the “Step 3” portion of the page. Although some of the material is available only by fee, there is a wealth of freely available information that could be of great value to the student.

On MDchoice.com, links are approved by an editorial board of physicians, ensuring high quality and authority. The site is copyrighted by MDchoice.com in Whitehouse Station, New Jersey. The user can limit a search to peer-reviewed pages by checking a box in the search engine. An interactive educational area contains “Photo Rounds,” “ECG Rounds,” and a “CyberPatient Simulator.” The cases presented in the interactive educational area are well described, and questions and answers create a unique opportunity to learn and prepare for examinations. Laboratory test results, photographs, and imaging are also included as appropriate.

ePodiatry.com also has much to offer on the clinical side of podiatric medicine and thus deserves a place on the clinical Web sites list. Charcot’s neuropathy, plantar fasciitis, foot radiology, foot orthoses, and much more are well covered in this remarkable endeavor. ValueMD and the site of the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine also include valuable clinical material, as does the online journal Virtual Mentor.

PCI Health Training Center has much to offer on the clinical side of medicine as well. The long list of Web pages presented covers a vast portion of clinical medicine, and most of the listed sites offer free access. A listing of health-sciences search engines and dictionaries is quite useful.

For those preparing to enter residency training, the PRESENT Podiatric Residency Courseware is definitely a site to bookmark. PRESENT, located in Deerfield Beach, Florida, is the copyright holder. PRESENT is an acronym for “Podiatric Residency Education Services E-Learning Network Training.” From this valuable new site, Web “courseware” is accessible that includes a set of online presentations containing a curriculum for the podiatric medical or surgical resident created by “some of greatest teachers in the history of podiatry.” These materials cover the full spectrum of topics podiatric residents need to know and can serve as lesson plans and teaching resources. The listing of available lectures reads like an index to a textbook of podiatric medicine. Individual residency programs may subscribe for a fee and thus obtain passwords to enable their residents to use the program.

Readers are encouraged to examine the “Podiatric Medical Resources on the Internet” series of articles[3,4,5,6,7] appearing periodically in the Journal of the American Podiatric Medical Association for a more comprehensive listing of Web sites devoted to general clinical medicine and podiatric medicine.

Conclusion

A multitude of free information resources is available through the technology of the Internet. This treasury of knowledge can do much to enhance the educational experience of podiatric medical students. Both basic- and clinical-sciences Web sites have been described in this article. The medical school curriculum is not an easy one, but perhaps the Web pages presented in this series can make the learning process a little smoother and a bit more fun.

Table 2. Selected Clinical Web Sites

Table 2. Selected Clinical Web Sites