National Library of Medicine Enhances Two Popular Products: MEDLINEPlus and PubMed


MEDLINEPlus is the National Library of Medicine's comprehensive consumer health web site, to which the United States Pharmacopeia Drug Information (USP DI), Volume II, Advice for the Patient was recently added. USP Drug Information is a guide to over 9,000 brand name and generic prescription and over-the-counter drug names. It provides information about side effects, dosing, drug interactions, precautions and storage for each drug. Because the articles are intended for the use of patients, they are written in non-technical language. The USP is available from any MEDLINEPlus page by selecting "Drug Information" from the left-hand button bar. Generic and brand-name drugs are listed on alphabetic pages with links to the generic drug record. You can also search for drug names using the "Search MEDLINEplus," button which appears at the bottom of the left-hand button bar. To send your feedback to the MEDLINEplus development team, use the "We welcome your comments" link found at the bottom of every page.

PubMed recently announced an enhancement to its new search interface, which was mounted in March of this year. The Preview/Index feature allows users to refine search strategies by adding one or more terms one-at-a-time, add terms to a strategy from specific search fields, and view and select terms from the Index to develop search strategies.

Details about using the Preview/Index feature can be found on PubMed's help screens.