Medpedia: The Medical Wikipedia

Though Wikipedia has become an invaluable source for information of any kind, many have challenged the site due to occasional inaccuracies. By allowing anyone to add or edit information, there is always room for false information to be disseminated. While this may not matter for TV show summaries and other pop culture topics, for medical information this is less than acceptable. Enter the website Medpedia.

Medpedia is a medical Wikipedia where content posted to the site is only accepted from fully licensed medical experts. Physicians, hospitals, medical schools, health organizations, and public health professionals are working together to build the most comprehensive medical information clearinghouse in the world. The endeavor is being led by Harvard Medical School, UC Berkeley School of Public Health, Stanford School of Medicine and University of Michigan Medical School. Additional organizations supporting and cooperating with the endeavor include the American College of Physicians (ACP), Oxford Health Alliance (OxHA), Federation of Clinical Immunology Societies, (FOCIS), European Federation of Neurological Associations (EFNA), National Institutes of Health (NIH), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and Federal Drug Administration (FDA).

Though the collaborative encyclopedia is still being built, a preview for the site can be found here (). Medpedia will ultimately be a free public site launched by the end of 2008. The pages will have information on each topic for public viewing, and a “technical” page for healthcare professionals with more clinical and scientific information. The content will be updated in real-time to stay up to date with the most recent discoveries.

The site is currently calling on healthcare providers to contribute both content and feedback.

For more information, click here.