The SCOT Top Ten

6/10/96

There are hundreds of pediatric web sites out there. Here is a review of ten of the "best" ones with original content (listed in no particular order). If you would like to nominate other web sites with original content for the next edition of the SCOT Top Ten, mail me. Don't be modest--you can even nominate your own site!

• OMIM. Few pediatricians would disagree that this is one of the most useful Internet resources in existence. For people who deal with genetic disorders (and who doesn't?) OMIM--a searchable database of thousands of genetic syndromes--is worth the cost of an Internet account. Victor McCusick has had his database of dysmorphic syndromes and other genetic phenomena computerized since the mid 1960's, and it was on-line long before Internet became a household word. If you have a patient with clinical features you might think are related to a genetic syndrome, check OMIM out at http://www3.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/Omim/.
  
  
• OncoLink - Pediatrics. One of the oldest pediatric resources on the web is also one of the best. The heme/onc folks at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia have put together an appealing resource center with a "case of the month" and lots of educational material aimed at docs, parents, and kids who are dealing with cancer. The pediatric section of OncoLink is at http://www.oncolink.upenn.edu/specialty/ped_onc/.
  
  
• PedBase. Alan Gandy has created the closest thing to an on-line pediatric textbook there is. What started as a "peripheral brain" he developed as a Paradox database during his pediatric residency has become a web-based synopsis of hundreds of pediatric diseases. Try it at http://www.icondata.com/health/pedbase/; you'll want to bookmark this one.
  
  
• Facts for Families from the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry. This is a large collection of handouts (in English, Spanish, and French, no less!) for parents on such diverse topics as mental retardation, soiling and bowel control, attention problems, bedwetting, and on and on. Recommend http://www.psych.med.umich.edu/web/aacap/factsFam/ to parents with questions about pesychiatric conditions in childhood.
  
  
• UAB Pediatric Surgery. OK, I'm a little biased because Bill Hardin and Mark Wulkan run this site from an office two floors below me, but it really is a good example of on-line continuing medical education. Check out http://pedsurg.surgery.uab.edu/ for multimedia tutorials on spinal dysraphism and laryngotracheal reconstruction, with more to come. CME credit is available.
  
  
• Dr. Greene's HouseCalls. "On-line pediatrics" hits a new height with this attractive site, run by Alan Greene, M.D., F.A.A.P., and his wife, Cheryl, with help from a grant from Silicon Graphics. Parents e-mail questions which are answered sensitively and in detail by this San Mateo, California pediatrician. catch Dr. Greene at http://www.drgreene.com/.
  
  
• Clinical Resources for Neonatal-Perinatal Medicine from Cedars Sinai Medical Center. Ray Duncan, one of the first pediatric webmasters, has put together a collection of the kind of useful stuff a peditrician needs in the nursery. Point your peripheral brain at http://www.csmc.edu/neonatology/neo.clinical.html.
  
  
• PED-EM-L Web Site and Mailing List. Of the 70 or so pediatric e-mailing lists out there, PED_EM-L is one fo the more active ones. They have a web site at http://www.brown.edu/Administration/Emergency_Medicine/ped-em-l.html to accompany their list, so you can do all those bothersome subscription functions without having to know the list server command syntax.
  
  
• The Down Syndrome WWW Page is compiled from contributions from the Down Syndrome mailing list. There is a treasure trove of information about Down kids and how to help parents and loved ones handle their emotions and challenges. There are a lot of other sites on the Web about this syndrome, but http://www.nas.com/downsyn/ may be a good place to start.
  
  
• Asthma Tutorial at the University of Virginia. At http://galen.med.virginia.edu/~smb4v/tutorials/asthma/asthma1.html you will find a nice multimedia tutorial, suitable for parents and older children, explaining the pathophysiology and management of our most common chronic illness.
  
  
• Pediatric ER Radiology Cases from the University of Hawaii (as served up by the University of Washington at http://www.rad.washington.edu/PedERCaseList.html). Great unknown cases on common dillemmas in pediatric imaging.
  
  

Oops! That's eleven! Really, there's no good way to select only ten great sites from the hundreds that are out there. I hope that this small collection will help maximize the quality of your time on the World Wide Web. If you're looking for more, try the PEDINFO web site at http://www.uab.edu/pedinfo/.