Medscape

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Medscape
Medscape Logo.svg
Type of site
Health information
Available inEnglish, German, Spanish, French, Portuguese
Owner WebMD
URL www.medscape.com OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg
RegistrationRequired
LaunchedMay 22, 1995;28 years ago (1995-05-22)

Medscape is a website providing access to medical information for clinicians and medical scientists; the organization also provides continuing education for physicians and other health professionals. It references medical journal articles, Continuing Medical Education (CME), a version of the National Library of Medicine's MEDLINE database, medical news, and drug information (Medscape Drug Reference, or MDR). At one time Medscape published seven electronic peer reviewed journals. [1]

Contents

History

Medscape launched May 22, 1995, by SCP Communications, Inc. [2] under the direction of its CEO Peter Frishauf. [3] The first editor of Medscape was a P.A. named Stephen Smith. In 1999, George D. Lundberg became the editor-in-chief of Medscape. For seventeen years before joining Medscape he served as editor of the Journal of the American Medical Association .

In September 1999, Medscape, Inc. went public and began trading on NASDAQ under the symbol MSCP. In 2000, Medscape merged with MedicaLogic, Inc., another public company. MedicaLogic filed for bankruptcy within 18 months and sold Medscape to WebMD in December 2001. In 2008, Lundberg was terminated by WebMD. The following year the Medscape Journal of Medicine ceased publishing. [4] In January 2013, Eric Topol was named editor-in-chief of Medscape. [5] The same year, Lundberg returned to Medscape as editor-at-large.

In 2009, WebMD released an iOS application of Medscape, [6] followed by an Android version two years later. [7] In 2015, WebMD launched Medscape CME & Education on iOS. [8] In 2021, Medscape launched Medscape UK to expand their business in United Kingdom. [9]

Criticisms

In 2016 a survey of doctors found WebMD and its sister company Medscape to have incomplete medical information lacking depth and also numerous cases of misinformation on their sites. [10] A study of Medscape and WebMD also found both services to lack neutrality and exhibiting bias potentially based on very high payments (compared to their industry competitors) from the pharmaceutical industry. [10]

Collaboration with the Tobacco Industry

In April 2024, Medscape was strongly criticised for running educational content sponsored by tobacco transnational PMI (Philip Morris International). [11] [12] According to the British Medical Journal "The idea that the lethal and immoral tobacco industry has a role in medical education is absurd.” [13] In response to pressure, Medscape withdrew from the multimillion dollar deal with PMI, which included plans to deliver 13 programmes, called the "PMI Curriculum", as well as podcasts and a TV-like series. [14]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cochrane (organisation)</span> British nonprofit for reviews of medical research (formed 1993)

Cochrane is a British international charitable organisation formed to synthesize medical research findings to facilitate evidence-based choices about health interventions involving health professionals, patients and policy makers. It includes 53 review groups that are based at research institutions worldwide. Cochrane has approximately 30,000 volunteer experts from around the world.

<i>The BMJ</i> British peer-reviewed medical journal

The BMJ is a weekly peer-reviewed medical journal, published by BMJ Group, which in turn is wholly-owned by the British Medical Association (BMA). The BMJ has editorial freedom from the BMA. It is one of the world's oldest general medical journals. Previously called the British Medical Journal, the title was officially shortened to BMJ in 1988, and then changed to The BMJ in 2014. The journal is published by BMJ Publishing Group Ltd, a subsidiary of the British Medical Association (BMA). The current editor-in-chief of The BMJ is Kamran Abbasi, who was appointed in January 2022.

<i>JAMA</i> Peer-reviewed medical journal published by the American Medical Association

JAMA (The Journal of the American Medical Association) is a peer-reviewed medical journal published 48 times a year by the American Medical Association. It publishes original research, reviews, and editorials covering all aspects of biomedicine. The journal was established in 1883 with Nathan Smith Davis as the founding editor. Kirsten Bibbins-Domingo of the University of California San Francisco became the journal editor-in-chief on July 1, 2022, succeeding Howard Bauchner of Boston University.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kamran Abbasi</span> British physician and sports writer

Kamran Abbasi is the editor-in-chief of the British Medical Journal (BMJ), a physician, visiting professor at the Department of Primary Care and Public Health, Imperial College, London, editor of the Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine(JRSM), journalist, cricket writer and broadcaster, who contributed to the expansion of international editions of the BMJ and has argued that medicine cannot exist in a political void.

Continuing medical education (CME) is continuing education (CE) that helps those in the medical field maintain competence and learn about new and developing areas of their field. These activities may take place as live events, written publications, online programs, audio, video, or other electronic media. Content for these programs is developed, reviewed, and delivered by faculty who are experts in their individual clinical areas. Similar to the process used in academic journals, any potentially conflicting financial relationships for faculty members must be both disclosed and resolved in a meaningful way. However, critics complain that drug and device manufacturers often use their financial sponsorship to bias CMEs towards marketing their own products.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Philip Morris International</span> Multinational tobacco company

Philip Morris International Inc. (PMI) is an American multinational tobacco company, with products sold in over 180 countries. The most recognized and best selling product of the company is Marlboro. Philip Morris International is often referred to as one of the companies comprising Big Tobacco.

Operation Berkshire is the name of a program initiated in 1976 by seven of the world's major tobacco companies aimed at promoting "controversy" over smoking and disease.

George D. Lundberg is an American board-certified pathologist and writer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eric Topol</span> American cardiologist, scientist, and author (born 1954)

Eric Jeffrey Topol is an American cardiologist, scientist, and author. He is the founder and director of the Scripps Research Translational Institute, a professor of Molecular Medicine and Executive Vice-President at Scripps Research Institute, and a senior consultant at the Division of Cardiovascular Diseases at Scripps Clinic in La Jolla, California. He has published three bestseller books on the future of medicine: The Creative Destruction of Medicine (2010), The Patient Will See You Now (2015), and Deep Medicine: How Artificial Intelligence Can Make Healthcare Human Again (2019). He was commissioned by the UK from 2018–2019 to lead planning for the National Health Service's future workforce, integrating genomics, digital medicine, and artificial intelligence.

<i>Journal of Internal Medicine</i> Academic journal

The Journal of Internal Medicine is a monthly peer-reviewed medical journal covering all aspects of internal medicine. It was established in 1863 and is published by Wiley-Blackwell on behalf of the Association for the Publication of the Journal of Internal Medicine. The editor-in-chief is Bo Angelin.

Tobacco Control is an international peer-reviewed journal covering the nature and consequences of tobacco use worldwide; tobacco's effects on population health, the economy, the environment, and society; efforts to prevent and control the global tobacco epidemic through population-level education and policy changes; the ethical dimensions of tobacco control policies; and the activities of the tobacco industry and its allies.

A general medical journal is an academic journal dedicated to medicine in general, rather than a specific field of medicine.

A heated tobacco product (HTP) is a tobacco product that heats the tobacco at a lower temperature than conventional cigarettes. These products contain nicotine, which is a highly addictive chemical. The heat generates an aerosol or smoke to be inhaled from the tobacco, which contains nicotine and other chemicals. HTPs may also contain additives not found in tobacco, including flavoring chemicals. HTPs generally heat tobacco to temperatures under 600 °C (1100 °F), a lower temperature than conventional cigarettes.

Joseph Gavin Collier is a British retired clinical pharmacologist and emeritus professor of medicines policy at St George's Hospital and Medical School in London, whose early research included establishing the effect of aspirin on human prostaglandins and looking at the role of nitric oxide and angiotensin converting enzyme in controlling blood vessel tone and blood pressure. Later, in his national policy work, he helped change the way drugs are priced and bought by the NHS, and ensured that members of governmental advisory committees published their conflicts of interest.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Iqos</span> Heated tobacco products by Philip Morris International

Iqos is a line of heated tobacco and electronic cigarette products manufactured by Philip Morris International (PMI). It was first introduced in November 2014 in Japan and Italy. Most of the IQOS products are devices that heat tobacco without burning it.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jocalyn Clark</span>

Jocalyn Clark is a Canadian Public Health Scientist and the International Editor of The BMJ, with responsibility for strategy and internationalising the journal's content, contributors and coverage. From 2016 to 2022, Jocalyn was an Executive Editor at The Lancet, where she led the Commentary section, coordinated peer review, and edited and delivered collections of articles and Commissions on topics such as maternal and child health, oral health, migration, end of life care and gender equity. She led the Lancet's project to advance women in science, medicine, and global health, #LancetWomen. She is also an Adjunct Professor of Medicine at the University of Toronto and an Honorary Associate Professor at the Institute for Global Health at UCL.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">MDCalc</span> Online medical reference for healthcare professionals

MDCalc is a free online medical reference for healthcare professionals that provides point-of-care clinical decision-support tools, including medical calculators, scoring systems, and algorithms. MDCalc is also a mobile and web app. The decision-support tools are based on published clinical research, and MDCalc’s content is written by physician authors.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mohammad Razai</span> British doctor and researcher

Mohammad Sharif Razai is a physician, poet, author and researcher. He was awarded the 2021 John Maddox Prize as an early career researcher, by Sense about Science and Nature for his work on racial health inequalities.

Ziyad Al-Aly is an American physician and clinical epidemiologist who is currently Director of the Clinical Epidemiology Center and Chief of the Research and Development at the Veterans Affairs St. Louis Health Care System. He is also a clinical epidemiologist at Washington University in St. Louis. He has led multiple studies on long covid and its sequelae.

Professor Angela Webster is a clinical epidemiologist at the Sydney School of Public Health, University of Sydney, nephrologist and transplant physician at Westmead Hospital and director of Evidence Integration at the NHMRC Clinical Trials Centre, University of Sydney.

References

  1. Adams, Nancy E. (February 2000). Amato, Sara (ed.). "Internet Reviews". College & Research Libraries News. 61 (2). Association of College and Research Libraries: 133–135. doi: 10.5860/crln.61.2.133 .
  2. Frenza, J.P.; Szabo, Michelle (1996). Web and new media pricing guide . Indianapolis, Ind.: Hayden Books. ISBN   156830336X. OCLC   36528652.
  3. "History of Medscape (The First Five Years)". medscape.com. Retrieved February 9, 2018.
  4. Romaine, M; Zatz, S; Brown, K; Lundberg, GD (2009). "So long but not farewell: The Medscape Journal of Medicine (1999–2009)" . Medscape Journal of Medicine. 11 (1): 33. PMC   2654707 . PMID   19295954 . Retrieved February 21, 2009.
  5. "Eric Topol Is the New Editor-in-Chief of Medscape". Medscape. Retrieved January 28, 2020.
  6. "Medscape iPhone Medical App Review". iMedicalApps. May 17, 2010. Retrieved January 28, 2020.
  7. Einerson, Brett (January 7, 2011). "The most popular iPhone medical app, Medscape, is now on Android". iMedicalApps. Retrieved July 11, 2014.
  8. "Medscape Goes Mobile with New CME & Education App". PR Newswire (Press release). Retrieved January 28, 2020.
  9. "Latest Medical News, Guidelines, Clinical Reference Medscape UK". medscape.co.uk. Retrieved October 21, 2022.
  10. 1 2 Belluz, Julie (April 5, 2016). "The truth about WebMD, a hypochondriac's nightmare and Big Pharma's dream". Vox . Vox Media. Retrieved May 14, 2022.
  11. How can anybody in healthcare get CME credits for an activity sponsored by tobacco giant Philip Morris? https://x.com/KaminskiMed/status/1775908558409744620?s=20
  12. Malone, Ruth E. (April 26, 2024). "Stop tobacco industry sponsorship of continuing medical education". BMJ. 385: q950. doi:10.1136/bmj.q950. ISSN   1756-1833. PMID   38670579.
  13. Boytchev, Hristio (April 9, 2024). "Exclusive: Outcry as Philip Morris International funds smoking cessation courses on Medscape". BMJ: q830. doi:10.1136/bmj.q830. ISSN   1756-1833.
  14. Boytchev, Hristio (April 26, 2024). "Medscape caves in on courses funded by tobacco giant Philip Morris, while medics fear global push into medical education". BMJ. 385: q948. doi:10.1136/bmj.q948. ISSN   1756-1833. PMID   38670594.