The Medpedia Project, a medical and health information internet platform, has unveiled a public version of its website. Medpedia—think Wikipedia for medicine—offers consumers transparent health and medical information, written for an intelligent lay audience, combined with social networking options.
The entry on hemodialysis, for example, is simply outstanding. It would be even better (and more transparent) if the lead editors were credited so their qualifications and backgrounds could be checked. Nonetheless, the entry is the single best one-page overview available on the subject.
Unlike many wikis, only medical professionals are allowed to write and edit articles, and each contributor will have their own source page outlining their background and qualifications.
Strangely, or perhaps not since the project is in its infancy, there are no article entries for “end-stage renal disease, “kidney failure,” or “kidney disease.”
Medpedia has partnered with the Berkeley School of Public Health, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Harvard Medical School, the National Health Service in England, and the University of Michigan Medical School for more than 7,000 pages of content, most of which is offered without copyright restrictions.
One of the most exciting aspects of Medpedia is its potential to displace closed-source professional medical publishing with an open-source model. Founder James Currier told Jenna Wortham writing for the New York Times, “Medpedia’s approach will be appealing to the new crop of doctors finishing their residencies, who have grown up on the Internet and are used to communicating this way. ‘They’re going to get credit for it and get recognized in an international medical community for their contributions,’ he said. ‘It can also be used as a platform for publishing journals—this will be the place to put out information and knowledge.’”
Image credit: Medpedia.
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