Online medical information not answering your questions? Learn why UpToDate is different than other resources
A letter from Denise Basow, MD, Executive Editor, UpToDate
Dear Reader,
If you want to learn more about a health condition or understand treatment options, you may have spent many hours searching the Internet for medical information. You've probably found sites with information on the condition, but the information may not have been in-depth enough to answer your questions, or you may have questioned the source, accuracy, or currency of the information.
UpToDate Answers Your Medical Questions
Physicians all over the world count on UpToDate to answer clinical questions that arise in everyday medical practice. This includes physicians at major academic medical centers. Our mission is to improve care by providing the best medical information available. More than 4,000 physician authors and editors, who are experts, in their respective fields contribute to this mission. They write topic reviews that cover all the major aspects of a particular condition, including symptoms, tests and diagnosis, and treatment options.
What really sets us apart from other resources is that we offer recommendations for patient care based on the best medical evidence, and we keep our recommendations current as new studies are released and practices change.
Clinicians and Patients value our information because it is written by medical experts, and is unbiased, in-depth, and easy to access and search. Many patients bring the medical information they find in UpToDate to their health care providers to enable shared decision making. As a physician, I love it when I can have discussions with well-informed and motivated patients. I encourage you to view our patient stories page to read how UpToDate has helped other patients.
To gain access to UpToDate's 7,700 plus physician-level topic reviews you need to subscribe. Subscription dollars enable us to continue providing both clinicians and patients with high-quality information that is unbiased by any commercial interests. We take no money from pharmaceutical companies and have no advertising.
It has been rewarding to see how UpToDate has improved the practice of medicine over the last 15 years by allowing clinicians to find the information they need. It is our pleasure to offer this information to patients now as well.
Why UpToDate is Different
