Contact:
Bill Schaller, Harvard Medical School
617-432-0441
[email protected]
Beth Wareham Simon & Schuster
212-698-2152
First Health Guide to be Updated on the Internet
New York, NY and Boston, MA -- September 15, 1999 -- Harvard Medical School and Simon & Schuster today launched www.health.harvard.edu/fhg, the web site that continuously updates the Harvard Medical School Family Health Guide (October 7, 1999; 1,288 pages; $40.00) as new health and medical information becomes available. It is not the whole book on line. The site will contain new information since the book went to press as well as information best presented using the interactive capabilities of the web. Access is free.
"Given the potential impact of this content," says Anthony L. Komaroff, M.D., Editor-in-Chief of the Harvard Medical School Family Health Guide and Harvard Health Publications, "the powerful combination of book and companion website will give users what they need to stay healthy and make important decisions in the age of managed care. The information in the book and on the web site will help people to maximize visits to the doctor and evaluate the thoroughness of their care. The site was created and will be maintained by a team of Harvard Medical School editors and will include groundbreaking news on wellness and illness as well as other specially designed features from the book."
The website, www.health.harvard.edu/fhg, is designed to supplement the Harvard Medical School Family Health Guide. Information on the web site will refer users to specific pages of the book, when appropriate. It will also allow users to quickly link to information on web sites that have been reviewed and recommended by Harvard Medical School faculty.
Some of the site's special features will include:
Updated information about wellness and illness -- Harvard experts will scan the major medical journals to identify and evaluate the latest, breaking health news -- new information since the book was printed. New knowledge about how to stay healthy, new understanding about the causes of disease, new diagnostic tests or new treatments will be summarized on the web site, and linked to pages in the book with related information.
New, interactive symptom charts -- The book contains 165 pages of symptom charts, to help readers know what to do when a worrisome symptom develops. The site will contain additional symptom charts not in the book. Users will work their way through the logic of these additional charts by answering questions in sequence.
New, expanded information on drugs, serious drug-drug interactions and drug-herb interactions -- In addition to the book's extensive table of the most commonly prescribed drugs, the site will include new drugs, what they do, and potentially adverse drug-drug and drug-herb interactions.
Interactive drug information -- The site will allow users to simply type in names of drugs and herbal treatments and the computer will indicate any potentially serious interaction.
Additional "When You Visit Your Doctor" features -- Prominent throughout the book, this feature takes a specific medical problem and walks a patient through every aspect of diagnosis and treatment from what questions the doctor is likely to ask to what tests will probably be ordered. Many additional diseases will be included on the site.
Written by more than 160 doctors who practice medicine at some of the world's most prestigious hospitals, the Harvard Medical School Family Health Guide draws upon 200 years of Harvard Medical School expertise through the faculty's 7000 doctors and researchers at 17 affiliated hospitals and research centers. It is specifically designed for the age of managed care and advises patients on how to manage the health care system; assess lifestyle benefits and risks; understand the human body and its development; and be informed of the most current diagnostic tests and treatments available.
For more information about Simon & Schuster, visit simonsays.com
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