"This is an excellent resource on adult patient texts, adult provider texts, pediatric patient texts, and pediatrics provider texts."
"Those seeking free medical textbooks online might be interested in...The University of Iowa's Virtual Hospital...There is a huge choice of specialities here."
Unique Element: This site provides valuable information for both patients and providers. Providers, for example, can benefit from textbook excerpts, video clips, and case studies, as well as full texts such as The University of Iowa Family Practice Handbook and The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Human Anatomic Variation.
"Teaching files, images, and other materials make this a practical, useful resource for radiologists."
"Perhaps the most accurate and comprehensive free online tutorial is hosted by the University of Iowa. Their "Virtual Hospital" offers an online phlebotomy course for continuing education credit at http://www.vh.org/adult/provider/pathology/CLIA//Phlebotomy/Phlebotomy.html. The information is current with NCCLS standards and includes instructions on the venipuncture procedures using the evacuated tube method, syringe method and winged-infusion "butterfly" method as well as lessons on fingerstick punctures and heelsticks. The tutorial, entitled "Pre-Analytical Factors Affecting Laboratory Results Emphasis: Phlebotomy," also includes photographs."
"Some pathology departments have Internet sites with extensive information. One of the best is the University of Iowa. The medical school there has developed the Virtual Hospital Web site (http://www.vh.org/Providers/CME/CLIA/CLIAHP.html) that has an extensive Physicians Office Laboratory (POL) course covering both technical and administrative aspects of operating a POL. Among the chapters are training modules in microbiology, hematology, and urinalysis. There is no charge for the course, but there is a charge for continuing education credit."
"A senior site to savour...The Virtual Hospital was an early entrant to the medical web. It has proved its worth over several years."
"This very useful Web library provides access to hundreds of books and brochures...many of the textbooks available offer superb accompanying illustrations."
"The Virtual Hospital from the University of Iowa is an excellent site for both patients and doctors."
"This site is an incredible reference tool with very detailed, high quality content."
"The University of Iowa Health Care Web site and its related Virtual Hospital, a physician and consumer healthcare information site, are pioneers."
"All in all it is a fairly extensive and useful site as an information resource.... It is essentially a comprehensive library."
"The Virtual Hospital and its two subsidiary sites provide an important basic medical library. Many providers and patients will find this a good starting point for searching for information about virtually all kinds of conditions."
Virtual Hospital listed as one of nine "Suggested Consumer Health Information Sites" on the Internet.
The Virtual Hospital listed as one of four "quality medical gateways to the Web that can help physicians navigate the on-line environment."
"I found the Virtual Hospital to be a user-friendly resource, a vivid example of what can be accomplished when technology leverages medical information."
Virtual Hospital listed as one of 18 "Sites to See" on the Internet.
"The Virtual Hospital is one of the best medical sites and a compelling demonstration of the Internet's potential to impact medical training and practice."
"The Virtual Hospital is an excellent place to begin exploring the medical resources of the World Wide Web."
"(The Virtual Hospital) is an example of the potential for the World Wide Web in medical education...."
"The approach to medical education in the Virtual Hospital is original and successful. The concentration on clinical material makes this Web site an easy-to-use, enjoyable learning resource for students, clinicians, and medical informaticians."
"The knee bone's connected to the… Internet!' By Paula Porter One of the best sites I found on-line about my mom's knee surgery, as well as just about anything else anyone might want to know about the world of medicine, is the Virtual Hospital site (www.vh.org). The U.S. version is sponsored by the University of Iowa, but there are on-line versions for Australia, Iceland, Japan, Korea, Taiwan, and Venezuala as well. The site features video clips, case histories, a variety of patient and medical student booklets, FAQ's, a link to a Virtual Children's Hospital, flight surgeon manuals, family practice hand books, and tons more stuff. There's even a section called Health Prose--a one-minute read describing a variety of illnesses and injuries. One of the best ways to search for information is the "common problems" link. I was able to get a whole batch of information for Mom on knee replacement- from pre-op to post therapies. As a result, she was able to ask her doctor informed questions and get a little peace of mind knowing more about what she was in for. Hey, I even found a way to take care of myself-some exercises that may help me avoid knee replacement when I'm her age."
"Medical professionals and lay people alike will find an abundance of healthcare information at this digital health sciences library, courtesy of the University of Iowa. Here visitors can read up on asthma, view dissected human brains, watch an x-ray video clip of the human ankle in motion, consult a booklet on hip replacement--the list goes on. One particularly noteworthy section provides answers to commonly asked questions on health topics ranging from dermatology to sexually transmitted diseases. Information is organized by medical problem, discipline or organ system, and the site features a solid search engine."
"Leonardo da Vinci did it first, but UI emeritus professor Ronald Bergman has done it better. For medical students, surgeons, and radiologists, the atlas provides an invaluable resource. To the non-scientific observer, the beautifully colored and detailed images look almost like abstract art. Work of art, medical aid, or a combination of the two--any way you slice it, the University's human atlas is a marvelous accomplishment."
"The amount of information available is staggering; medical information on-line has proliferated...at the Virtual Hospital you can examine an MRI of a pelvis, watch a QuickTime movie of an ankle in action, or read up on medication for the common cold."
"It's the part of the body that most makes us what we are, but one we rarely get to see. Perhaps for good reason--you may want to examine these photos of real human brains before lunch. Still, it's as fascinating as it is icky. The site itself is a bit on the clinical side (it's part of the Virtual Hospital, which is mainly a resource for doctors and other health care workers), but oh those pictures...."
The Virtual Hospital was listed as one of 10 "sites that your doctor might even recommend."
"At the University of Iowa, researchers have assembled an online hospital.... The multimedia Web pages are literally saving lives."
"Not a bad day's work for an electronic apprentice."
Virtual Hospital listed as one of four "authoritative Internet health resources."
"None of us is alike inside our bodies, which should come as no suprirse, since people are plenty different on the outside. Why should variability, like beauty, be only skin deep? Yet most anatomy textbooks don't discuss this kind of variation...says [Ron] Bergman, who's been compiling a compendium of these differences for decades. Read about it in Bergman and colleagues' online book at www.vh.org/providers/textbooks/anatomicvariants/anatomyhp.html"
"Accurate information on a wide range of health issues and medical procedures can be found at www.vh.org. The Web site, Virtual Hospital, offers a user-friendly digital health-sciences library to help meet the information needs of both health-care providers and patients. It was designed to offer useful medical references and as a health-promotion tool."
"Virtual Hospital is a digital health sciences library created in 1992 at the University of Iowa to help meet the information needs of health care providers and patients. The site contains information from thousands of books and booklets, and visitors may search for information by topic or specialty. The virtual Hospital library also delivers continuing education to health care providers' offices and homes."
"This website provides educational materials for healthcare providers in the form of multimedia textbooks, teaching files, patient simulations and lectures. And if you are a patient, look here for the Iowa Health Book of educational materials in the form of brochures and books. There is also information for health care providers and patients on common medical problems."
"A real resource--Virtual Hospital's digital library aims to make the Internet a tool for getting medical information."
"The anatomy of the brain is the most difficult of any part of the body to visualize, with complicated structures crumpled together into a space the size of a cantaloupe. Neuroanatomists at the University of Iowa have put together a set of detailed photographs of sections of the human brain, with schematic drawings that allow each structure to be identified. The result is the equivalent of a very good textbook of brain anatomy."
"The Virtual Hospital contains digital versions of hundreds of medical textbooks...in essence, it opens the bookshelves of the staff to the world."
"Virtual Hospital is a user-friendly resource and can be used as an excellent starting point to explore the medical resources on the World Wide Web. It is an easy-to-use as well as enjoyable learning resource for students, patients, and clinicians. Patients can also be assured that the peer reviewed materials are not only current but are in the form of authoritative medical information. It seems as if the Web site takes care of what the visitor needs and does its best to educate that visitor.... I encourage readers to access the information at Virtual Hospital. It can be very helpful and worth your time."
"Not many people look forward to a trip to the hospital. But if you could schedule your appointment by e-mail, print out driving directions to get there, find your doctor's office on a floor map of the building, and read up on your particular ailment, perhaps you'd at least be a little less anxious. "
"(The Virtual Hospital) is the ultimate site for all healthcare providers and patients...."
"Realistic doses of medicine on-line."
Virtual Hospital listed as one of the "top 13 Internet health resources."
Virtual Hospital listed as one of four "more reliable Internet health resources."
"The Virtual Hospital is not alone on the electronic frontier when it comes to medical libraries. But it may be a one-of-a-kind resource, according to Dr. Michael Ackerman, assistant director of the Office of High-Performance Computing and Communications at the National Library of Medicine. 'The Virtual Hospital is one of the leading examples on the Internet in the medical area,' Ackerman said."
Virtual Hospital listed as one of four "Internet resources useful to practitioners."
"This digital hospital explores a range of common health conditions affecting adults and children and presents some compelling findings on such topics as cell biology and pathology. A collection of easy to read articles and teaching files is accessible to all users with images and diagrams helping to illustrate tricky topics. A dedicated column on aging (which begins at 30) focuses on longevity and preventive medicine."
"With medical journals, reference guides, and entire medical libraries like the Virtual Hospital from the University of Iowa available to anyone, online, for free, patients and doctors agree: the Internet is changing the way each relates to the other."
"The Virtual Hospital - Resources for both patients and physicians can be found at this site out of the University of Iowa, a pioneer in the provision of online medical information and still among the leaders in the field. Health care professionals can access a huge--and we do mean huge--collection of online medical textbooks on every conceivable topic, the University of Iowa's comprehensive Family Practice Handbook, and a series of patient simulations. Resources for laypersons include educational materials, "Spotlight" sections containing variety of articles on specific issues in health and wellness, news analysis, and teaching and reference resources for teachers at all levels."
"This site does three things: inform, inform, inform. There aren't any advertising disractions or solcitiations...The information is written by professionals for paitents, making it scientifically credible but consumer-friendly at the same time. Whether you're researching a common disease or one that's quite rare, you're likely to find your answers on this site."
"Finally, a site for both health care providers and patients. Tour the Virtual Hospital for any medical questions that you might have.... Do keep this address in your files. You never know when you might need a Virtual Hospital."
"The University of Iowa has created a global presence with its Virtual Hospital, which contains a wealth of e-books and e-brochures for healthcare providers and patients."
"The site contains a wealth of full-text health information as well as links to other quality sites...Much thought has gone into the site, intending to make it easy to use...Virtual Hospital maintains a very deep committment to authoritative information...The site often takes advantage of the strengths of the Web to deliver high-quality nontext media...The Virtual Hospital contains a wealth of high-quality, authoritative information in traditional medicine...The information and links included are very high quality, and medical professionals, librarians, and more savvy patients will be very well served by this site."
"The Virtual Hospital is quite stunning."
"Patient care and distance learning via online multimedia tools...."
"The Virtual Hospital's search engine allows you to search the entire library database to learn about disorders, symptoms, treatments, and support organizations."
"This site includes information for patients and providers, including textbooks, articles, images, and links."
"Provided and maintained by the University of Iowa Health Care, the Virtual Hospital is designed as a "medical reference and health promotion tool for health care providers and patients." To that end, the site offers current and authoritative medical information for patients and professional and pedagogical information for health care providers."
"You can find a great deal of valuable medical information...."
"The Virtual Hospital, designed by the University of Iowa College of Medicine, deserves the highest accolades for medical information."
"(The Virtual Hospital) is a large online library of information on patient care including a good deal of information on practice guidelines."
"As more and more medical content finds its way on to the Web, it has the potential to develop into a 'virtual medical textbook' sharing the best of an institution's knowledge and teaching skills with the best of others. The Virtual Hospital from the University of Iowa is one of the earliest well-known sites. It features a wide range of services for both physicians and patients."
"The Virtual Hospital is a leading resource on the Web."
"Though the tag 'multimedia' seems to be appended to almost every publication on the Internet, those at the Virtual Hospital are some of the best examples of this format you are likely to encounter."
"Here's a superb source of medical information for both patients and healthcare professionals."
"The Virtual Hospital is a great source for anyone in search of online health information."
"The Virtual Hospital...has the kind of internal continuity and organization that is possible only when someone or some group sits down to design and create a site. Certainly, no site can include every aspect of a given field. There are undoubtedly medical subjects that are not covered by the Virtual Hospital. If that's the case, you can turn to Yahoo, Infoseek, and other search engines. But start with the Virtual Hospital--you really will appreciate its quality and sense of organization."
"An impressive source of medical information on the Internet, developed by the University of Iowa. From the Virtual Hospital it is possible to access multimedia medical information dealing with a large variety of topics."
"University of Iowa's Virtual Children's Hospital provides more resources for pediatric healthcare professionals than for parents, but you'll still find plenty of reasons to stop here."
"Whether you're a medical professional or just regular folk, the Virtual Hospital may have something you are interested in."
"Simply stated, the Virtual Hospital is one of the best clinical sites on the Internet today, with an abundance of clinical information."
"(the Virtual Hospital is) Fascinating--you can walk through a diagnosis."
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