Chicago Hope TV Show Features MEDLINE

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CBS Television's Chicago Hope Features MEDLINE Database,
World's Largest Source of Published Medical Information

Consumers and Health Professionals Worldwide Now Have Fingertip Access to Cutting-Edge Research

(Bethesda, MD) - On CBS Television's hit medical drama Chicago Hope, a lead character finds research on her own suspected breast cancer using a MEDLINE Internet search, a database just recently made available to physicians and the public at no charge by the National Library of Medicine (NLM), a part of the National Institutes of Health. The episode is scheduled to air Wednesday, February 4 at 10 p.m. ET.

This past summer, the NLM announced it was offering free access to MEDLINE, the world's most extensive collection of published medical information, over the World Wide Web at <http://www.nlm.nih.gov/>. Prior to this announcement users had to register and pay to search MEDLINE.

NLM cooperated with producers of Chicago Hope to include MEDLINE in the episode in which pregnant physician Dianne Grad (Jayne Brook) discovers a lump in her breast. Before she consults her doctor, Grad performs a MEDLINE search on the Internet to gather articles on breast cancer and pregnancy.

Each day, thousands of physicians and their patients use MEDLINE, from aiding doctors in diagnosing patients with rare conditions, to educating patients on various treatment options. MEDLINE contains more than 9 million references going back to 1966 and provides abstracts of many of these articles.

MEDLINE also allows the public to establish direct web links to a growing number of publishers so full text can be retrieved. This new full- text retrieval service is the result of a collaboration between the NLM and major science information publishers such as the New England Journal of Medicine, Science, Journal of Biological Chemistry, and The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

"From a computer in a doctor's office, a hospital library, or in the comfort of your own home or at your neighborhood library, you can access timely and accurate medical information," said NLM Director Donald A.B. Lindberg, M.D., who noted that people are performing about 300,000 MEDLINE searches a day since the NLM made it more accessible, free and private.

"The National Library of Medicine's debut of free Web-based searching could not be more timely," said Lindberg. "The health care delivery landscape is changing. Citizens are increasingly turning to the Web as a source of information to improve their daily lives, including their health. It is vital that they, and the health professionals who serve them, have access to the most current and credible medical information."

Access to MEDLINE and other sources of medical information from the NLM has already helped many Americans including:

• A Pennsylvania book editor who went online to learn about non Hodgkin's lymphoma and to find a clinical trial for her daughter, a University of Iowa student, who was diagnosed with the disease;
• A Maryland woman who had six miscarriages before she consulted MEDLINE, found a treatment, and carried a baby successfully to term;
• A Connecticut hospital librarian who searched MEDLINE for a doctor who was concerned about hospitals performing mastectomies on an out-patient basis for insurance purposes. Her search resulted in a reversal of such insurance policies;
• A New York police officer who searched MEDLINE to recover important information for three relatives with cancer: his wife, father-in-law, and aunt. He now trains other officers in the use of MEDLINE;
• A Virginia couple whose 6- month search of medical literature resulted in treatment for their son's rare inherited disease - a search that became immortalized in the movie "Lorenzo's Oil".

Free use of MEDLINE can be accessed from the NLM's web site at: <http://www.nlm.nih.gov/>.

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Editor's note: The individuals mentioned above and other people from throughout the United States who have medical success stories from using MEDLINE are available for interviews.

Last updated: 02 February 1998
First published: 02 Febuary 1998
Permanence level: Permanent: Stable Content