If you are at a loss for the name of a drug or meaning of an acronym, visit www.pharma-lexicon.com. This database lists more than 70,000 pharmaceutical and medical acronyms and abbreviations. A variety of categories, including medical abbreviations, pharmaceutical companies, the Merck Manual, medical articles and books, helps narrow your search.

Because one medical acronym may have numerous meanings, the search results list all the possibilities. You then can choose what information you want to read about from a list of articles. The search engine is fast and the site features a link to download the database to your PDA. The database is updated daily and is free to use.

Safe beds

There is no end to the way patients can be injured. Because all hospitalized patients spend time in hospital beds, the safety of these beds needs to be assured. The Food and Drug Administration has partnered with a group of representatives from companies that make medical beds, patient advocacy groups and federal agencies to form a work group to improve the safety of hospital beds for patients at risk for injury. The Hospital Bed Safety Work Group Web site [www.fda.gov/cdrh/beds] includes safety alerts about entrapment hazards associated with hospital beds and a bed safety brochure. The related information link provides general information on adverse events and medical device reporting.

Breathe easier

Looking for the latest in lung health? Check out the Pulmonary and Critical Care Update Online site at www.chestnet.org/education/online/pccu. This site posts continuing education material on pulmonary and critical care issues. Materials for educating children about asthma and smoking, including word searches and quizzes, are available in English and Spanish under the downloads section. Professionally done speaker kits contain information about tobacco and lung cancer. These include PowerPoint presentations that can be downloaded in their entirety and used as is or modified. Finally, patient fact sheets in English and Spanish discuss bronchoscopy, asthma, COPD, lung transplantation, cough, mechanical ventilation and pulmonary rehabilitation.

Leading the way

If you are looking for a site to practice your 12-lead skills, visit www.12leadecg.com. The site is intended as a supplement to the book 12-Lead ECG: The Art of Interpretation, and includes 30 practice 12-lead graphic simulations with corresponding instruction and commentary. Flashcards also can be downloaded. The cards are displayed individually on the screen and ask a question from a category you choose, such as anatomy, electrophysiology, myocardial infarction, PR interval or the P wave. When you submit your answer, the correct answer and an explanation are displayed. An online glossary allows you to search by term and find definitions.

Emergency care

For the latest information on what is happening on the pre-hospital front and what the hot topics are in the emergency medical services community, visit the Journal of Emergency Medical Services Web site [www.jems.com]. This site provides frontline information for first responders and firefighters.

The journal's mission is to educate, inform and challenge customers in the emergency services community. The site includes articles from the journal and FireRescue magazine, in addition to online newsletters. The latest stories of interest for EMS are posted on topics such as military call-ups, the use of the Trendelenburg position and legislative updates.