Factitious disorder imposed on self, also known as Munchausen syndrome, is a factitious disorder in which those affected feign or induce disease, illness, injury, abuse, or psychological trauma to draw attention, sympathy, or reassurance to themselves. Munchausen syndrome fits within the subclass of factitious disorder with predominantly physical signs and symptoms, but patients also have a history of recurrent hospitalization, travelling, and dramatic, extremely improbable tales of their past experiences. The term Munchausen syndrome derives its name from the fictional character Baron Munchausen.
In a support group, members provide each other with various types of help, usually nonprofessional and nonmaterial, for a particular shared, usually burdensome, characteristic. Members with the same issues can come together for sharing coping strategies, to feel more empowered and for a sense of community. The help may take the form of providing and evaluating relevant information, relating personal experiences, listening to and accepting others' experiences, providing sympathetic understanding and establishing social networks. A support group may also work to inform the public or engage in advocacy.
MEDLINE is a bibliographic database of life sciences and biomedical information. It includes bibliographic information for articles from academic journals covering medicine, nursing, pharmacy, dentistry, veterinary medicine, and health care. MEDLINE also covers much of the literature in biology and biochemistry, as well as fields such as molecular evolution.
Quackwatch is a United States-based website, self-described as a "network of people" founded by Stephen Barrett, which aims to "combat health-related frauds, myths, fads, fallacies, and misconduct" and to focus on "quackery-related information that is difficult or impossible to get elsewhere". Since 1996 it has operated the alternative medicine watchdog website quackwatch.org, which advises the public on unproven or ineffective alternative medical remedies. The site contains articles and other information criticizing many forms of alternative medicine.
eHealth describes healthcare services which are supported by digital processes, communication or technology such as electronic prescribing, Telehealth, or Electronic Health Records (EHRs). The use of electronic processes in healthcare dated back to at least the 1990s. Usage of the term varies as it covers not just "Internet medicine" as it was conceived during that time, but also "virtually everything related to computers and medicine". A study in 2005 found 51 unique definitions. Some argue that it is interchangeable with health informatics with a broad definition covering electronic/digital processes in health while others use it in the narrower sense of healthcare practice using the Internet. It can also include health applications and links on mobile phones, referred to as mHealth or m-Health. Key components of eHealth include electronic health records (EHRs), telemedicine, health information exchange, mobile health applications, wearable devices, and online health information. These technologies enable healthcare providers, patients, and other stakeholders to access, manage, and exchange health information more effectively, leading to improved communication, decision-making, and overall healthcare outcomes.
Google Health encompasses the health and wellbeing initiatives of Google, including Fitbit and a range of other features and integrations. Google Health started in 2008 as an attempt to create a repository of personal health information in order to connect doctors, hospitals and pharmacies directly. The Google Health project was discontinued in 2012, but the Google Health portfolio re-established in 2018 before being redescribed in 2022 as an "effort" rather than a distinct division.
PTT Bulletin Board System is the largest terminal-based bulletin board system (BBS) based in Taiwan. It was founded by Yi-Chin Tu and other students from the National Taiwan University in 1995 as Professional Technology Temple, and it is currently administered by the Electronic BBS Research Society as a non-commercial and open-source BBS.
AIDA is a freeware computer program that permits the interactive simulation of plasma insulin and blood glucose profiles for demonstration, teaching, self-learning, and research purposes. Originally developed in 1991, it has been updated and enhanced since, and made available without charge from 1996 on the World Wide Web. The program, which is still being updated, has gone through a number of revisions and developments in the 16+ years since its original internet launch. Further copies of the simulator have been made available, in the past, on diskette by the system developers and from the British Diabetic Association (BDA) — now called 'Diabetes UK' — London, England, following the BDA's own independent evaluation of the software. More than 1,075,000 diabetes simulations have been run via a web-based version of the AIDA diabetes simulator.
Online health communities are online social networks related to health. They primarily provide a means for patients and their families to learn about illnesses, to seek and offer social support, and to connect with others in similar circumstances. These online groups can be composed of individuals with illnesses, groups of medical professionals with shared interests, non-professional caregivers and family of patients, or a combination. The term "online health community" is primarily academic jargon.
"Health 2.0" is a term introduced in the mid-2000s, as the subset of health care technologies mirroring the wider Web 2.0 movement. It has been defined variously as including social media, user-generated content, and cloud-based and mobile technologies. Some Health 2.0 proponents see these technologies as empowering patients to have greater control over their own health care and diminishing medical paternalism. Critics of the technologies have expressed concerns about possible misinformation and violations of patient privacy.
Monochrome BBS, known to users as "Mono," is a text-based multi-user bulletin board system featuring thousands of discussion files, along with games, user messaging, and a talker. As of November 2023 it is one of the few BBS's still in operation and actively used on a daily basis by its community. Monochrome runs on custom software, making the platform and user experience distinct from other bulletin board systems.
Sharecare, Inc. is an Atlanta, Georgia-based health and wellness company that provides consumers with personalized health-related information, programs, and resources. It provides personalized information to the site's users based on their responses to the RealAge Test, the company's health risk assessment tool, and offers a clinical decision support tool, AskMD. Headquartered in Atlanta, Sharecare was founded in 2010 by Jeff Arnold and Dr. Mehmet Oz, in partnership with Remark Media, Harpo Studios, Sony Pictures Television and Discovery Communications.
Healthgrades Marketplace, LLC, known as Healthgrades, is a US company that provides information about physicians, hospitals, and healthcare providers. Healthgrades is part of RVO Health, a partnership between Red Ventures and Optum, part of UnitedHealth Group. Healthgrades has amassed information on over three million U.S. health care providers. The company was founded by Kerry Hicks, David Hicks, Peter Fatianow, John Neal, and Sarah Lochran, and is based in Denver, Colorado. Jeff Hallock serves as RVO Health's CEO. According to USA Today, Healthgrades is the first comprehensive physician rating and comparison database. The application is part of a trend in health technology in the United States towards consumer-driven healthcare.
Everyday Health Group is a digital media company which owns websites and produces content relating to health and wellness for consumers and medical professionals. For consumers, its brands include Everyday Health, Diabetes Daily, Migraine Again, DailyOM, What to Expect, BabyCenter, and Emma’s Diary. Its brands for professionals include Health eCareers, Prime Medical, MedPage Today, and Castle Connolly. Everyday Health Group is a division of the Ziff Davis Media and internet conglomerate.
Preventice, Inc., formerly known as Boost Information Systems, Inc., was founded in 2007 by Jonathan Otterstatter, Scott Burrichter, Greg Wobig, and Dan Spors. The company is headquartered in Rochester, Minnesota.
Psych Central is a mental health information and news website. Psych Central is overseen by mental health professionals who create and oversee all the content published on the site. The site was created in 1995. The site was named as one of the Internet's 50 Best Websites in 2008 by Time, and has approximately 6 million unique visitors per month. PsychCentral was acquired by Healthline in August 2020. Former attorney and author, Faye McCray was appointed Editor-In-Chief in 2021.
Pediatric Oncall is a pediatric organization, as well as an online pediatric journal and child health platform. This organization has a large editorial board with experts in various fields of pediatrics as their reviewers. Pediatric Oncall offers free medical advice for both doctors and parents, as well as publishes its own journal called Pediatric Oncall Journal. For practicing physicians, the website serves as a free source of updating themselves. The site is an informative, as well as an interactive platform for doctors and parents offering information on various diseases, vaccines, nutrition, home-made remedies, and even a forum to post one's queries to a doctor
CrowdMed is a healthcare platform based in San Francisco, California. Jared Heyman, Axel Setyanto and Jessica Greenwalt founded the company in 2012. CrowdMed aims to diagnose rare medical conditions through crowdsourcing and applying prediction market technology to medical data. As of May 2015, CrowdMed has solved over 900 cases.
Merative L.P., formerly IBM Watson Health, is an American medical technology company that provides products and services that help clients facilitate medical research, clinical research, real world evidence, and healthcare services, through the use of artificial intelligence, data analytics, cloud computing, and other advanced information technology. Merative is owned by Francisco Partners, an American private equity firm headquartered in San Francisco, California. In 2022, IBM divested and spun-off their Watson Health division into Merative. As of 2023, it remains a standalone company headquartered in Ann Arbor with innovation centers in Hyderabad, Bengaluru, and Chennai.
Gemma Newman known as the Plant Power Doctor is a British medical doctor, nutritionist, author and advocate of whole food plant-based nutrition.
