Online medicines library gets revamp
- 1 June 2006
The National electronic Library for Medicine, which collects online news and RSS feeds on medicines information, is set to expand into a personalised portal, featuring both regional and national medicines news.
The NeLM, which was first launched under the title DrugInfoZone is funded by the National electronic Library for Health. The site sifts and collates news stories and journal articles primarily on the subject of medicines, such as safety alerts and major clinical trials, but also general guidance from both the UK and abroad.
The site already operates a categorised news service, with users able to subscribe to categories such as new drugs, product updates and clinical governance. However, over the next six to eight months, the site will start to feature content generated by regional teams and users will be able to login and see news specific to clinical areas, both online and on mobile devices. This is because the content is to be delivered in an open-standart output that can be read by compatible devices.
Bernard Tang, Project Manager at the NeLM, told E-Health Insider: "NeLM will unlock the medicines information for the NHS, and transform the embedded clinical knowledge into best practice."
The content in the NeLM will be enriched for sorting and searching, and will be coded using technologies such as SNOMED-CT to enable better interoperability with Connecting for Health. The NeLM is also working with the British National Formulary and the electronic Medicines Compendium to deliver further content.
Launched in 1999, over 17,000 people are registered on the site. Registered readers include pharmacists in hospitals and primary care organisations, nurses, GPs, hospital doctors and pharmacy technicians.
A total of one million news stories were accessed over the past two months. NeLM attribute this success to their re-branding from DrugInfoZone, and continued media coverage.
Some of the most popular items on the site over the past year include nurse prescribing and professional accountability teaching resources, COPD guidance for GPs and smoking cessation bulletins.
NeLM is supported and funded by the National electronic Library for Health and Guy’s & St Thomas’ Charity.
The whole redevelopment of the site will be finished within the next 12 months.
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