IPSWICH, Mass. — July 14, 2015 — Wikipedia healthcare editors will now have free access to the cross-platform, evidence-based clinical reference solution, DynaMed Plus™. Wikipedia is collaborating with EBSCO Health, the creators of DynaMed Plus, to help enhance healthcare entries on the popular Internet encyclopedia.
Wikipedia’s top healthcare editors will be given complimentary access to DynaMed Plus to assist in content generation, research and verification of information on pages dedicated to medicine, pharmacology, public health, and other related topics. Currently, there are more than 155,000 medical articles posted to Wikipedia, which are supported by 950,000+ references. Healthcare content alone was viewed more than 4.88 billion times in 2013.
“Wikipedia is one of, if not the most viewed online medical resource for both patients and healthcare providers. This makes it crucial that its authorship be pristine and its content reliable,” said James Heilman, MD, Department of Emergency Medicine at the University of British Columbia. “Access to DynaMed Plus not only strengthens the healthcare content being produced but also gives readers confidence knowing the information contained in Wikipedia healthcare entries is coming from a trusted source.”
DynaMed Plus is a point-of-care, evidence-based clinical reference tool available on laptops, and mobile devices running iOS and Android. It includes thousands of topics covering diseases, conditions, drugs and more, and is supplemented with 4,000 full color images. DynaMed Plus is optimized for the way a physician works, provides the quickest time-to-answer, and delivers the most current information with validity, relevance and convenience. DynaMed Plus clinical editors monitor more than 500 medical journals on a daily basis, and evaluate each article for clinical relevance and scientific validity. The new evidence is then integrated with existing DynaMed Plus content, and overall conclusions are changed as appropriate, representing a synthesis of the best available evidence.
“Our partnership with Wikipedia ensures that editors are including information that is current and based on real world evidence, to provide their readers with accurate content,” said Brian S. Alper, MD, MSPH, FAAFP, founder of DynaMed and vice president of EBM Research & Development, Quality and Standards at EBSCO Health. “Wikipedia is relied on as a trusted source and having access to DynaMed Plus’ vast resources is a way to ensure that it continues to be seen as a highly-regarded information platform within the medical community.”
“I personally update and edit hundreds of entries on Wikipedia each year,” said Emily Temple-Wood, Wikipedian-in-Residence at the CDC’s National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, and Board Member of WikiProject Med Foundation. “Being able to consult DynaMed Plus allows me to research trusted, evidence-based clinical content to produce relevant and accurate material that our readers have come to rely on.”
Up to 300 complimentary accounts to DynaMed Plus will be granted to Wikipedia editors through the partnership. Healthcare editors who have held an account with Wikipedia for more than a year with a minimum of 1,000 edits can find further information here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:DynaMed
About EBSCO Health
EBSCO Health, part of EBSCO Information Services, is a leading provider of clinical decision support solutions, healthcare business intelligence, and medical research information for the healthcare industry. EBSCO Health users include professionals in medicine, nursing, and allied health. Flagship products include CINAHL®, DynaMed™, Nursing Reference Center™, clinical e-books and e-journals, EBSCO Discovery Service™, licensed databases (such as MEDLINE®), plus EBSCONET®. EBSCO databases are powered by EBSCOhost®, the electronic resource favored by libraries around the world.
About EBSCO Information Services
EBSCO Information Services (EBSCO) is the leading discovery service provider for libraries worldwide with more than 8,000 discovery customers in over 100 countries. EBSCO Discovery Service™ (EDS) provides each institution with a comprehensive, single search box for its entire collection, offering unparalleled relevance ranking quality and extensive customization. EBSCO is also the preeminent provider of online research content for libraries, including hundreds of research databases, historical archives, point-of-care medical reference, and corporate learning tools serving millions of end users at tens of thousands of institutions. EBSCO is the leading provider of electronic journals & books for libraries, with subscription management for more than 360,000 serials, including more than 57,000 e-journals, as well as online access to more than 700,000 e-books. For more information, visit the EBSCO website at: www.ebsco.com. EBSCO Information Services is a division of EBSCO Industries Inc., a family owned company since 1944.
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MSLGROUP
781-684-0770
ebsco@mslgroup.com
