Jim Karpen Tips

February 2001

There's a lot to like about the Merck site. You have a huge medical reference at your fingertips--the Merck Manual of Diagnosis and Therapy, a manual that is used and studied by doctors. It's a vast compendium of disorders and treatment, whatever your ailment.

And also valuable is the Merck Manual Home Edition. This again is a vast trove of health information, but in more understandable language. Other areas of the site include fun quizzes and InfoPark, which contains sections featuring timely health topics.

The home edition is interactive, with photos, animations, videos, sound files offering correct pronunciations, and illustrations. Unfortunately, the interactive version didn't seem to work on my computer. But the text version is also very attractive and well organized and useful.

To get a sense for how useful the information is, I checked out the sections on insomnia, which has recently been plaguing a friend. The difference between the doctor's and home editions was interesting.

The version for professionals was more to the point and assumed that the reader understood a range of information, such as the stages of sleep. It gets right to the various types of maladies, diagnosis, and treatment.

The home version, on the other hand, begins with excellent general information about sleep, such as the average daily sleep requirement according to age. It also explains the stages of sleep and defines insomnia.

Much of the information on treatment of insomnia is about the use of drugs, and, both versions highlight the dangers. I was surprised that the professional version has the most information about ways to improve sleep. In a separate table, it offers a range of excellent tips regarding a regular sleep schedule, a regular bedtime routine, and the importance of a sleep-conducive environment, as well as information about pillows and a brief explanation of the value of exercise. These tips can be very useful: my friend's insomnia has improved greatly, thanks largely to a decision to adopt a more regular routine.

I enjoyed the section of the site titled "Mediquiz." There are three quizzes for nonspecialists, labeled "silver" and three for professionals, labeled "gold." If you take three quizzes, you are then entered into a drawing for a free T-shirt. They give away 50 each month, and each month they put up new quizzes.

I did pretty well on the "silver" quizzes, answering correctly questions on whether cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death in the U.S., whether cocaine can cause heart attacks, who was the discoverer of blood circulation, and which type of cholesterol is the good kind. They were true/false and multiple choice, which made it easier. But when I tried one of the "gold" quizzes, I didn't have a clue.

© 2001 by Jim Karpen, Ph.D. (#253)