New collaborative medical encyclopedia

Thanks to Jeff Cain for sending along the link to Medpedia.com. Similar to the credentialing process of Sermo.com, users must have an MD or PhD in a biomedical field to post on the site. Harvard and Stanford Medical Schools are a few of the sponsors of the site.

We have witnessed the popularity of Wikipedia and other uses of wikis, including a book that was written completely in a wiki environment. I wonder how much traction this site will gain. The site is also intended to provide networking for health care professionals, serve as a source for patients to find information, and provide a medium for discussion of emerging topics.

I can see the potential value in this site...as a virtual reference supporting the education of future health care professionals, a method for discussion of emerging or controversial treatment approaches, a "preferred" reference for patients (vs. a Google search on the topic of interest), and a host of other ideas.

I wonder what you think. Will you point your students or colleagues to it? Will you register as an editor? Will you file it away as "not worth the time"?

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