Designed for multimedia Windows IBM PC and compatibles of moderate to good specifications, this CD‐ROM version of Mosby ‘s Medical Encyclopedia andMosby’s Home Medical Advisor comprises a medical dictionary and thesaurus, a drug guide, a handbook of diseases, and an interactive atlas of the human body. The disc comes with a 4‐page leaflet describing its content and how it is to be used; but a newcomer would do well also to run through the on‐disc tutorial provided.
Searches for simple terms are mostly satisfied by calling up scrolling alphabetical indexes to an appropriate section; but more complex Boolean searches can be set up which discover terms wherever they appear on the disc. The disc is obviously designed to give non‐medical people factual information and care advice on health and sickness. It succeeds well in this aim, with clear explanations of medical terms and their pronunciation, along with colorful illustrations and animations. Added sound is helpful and very rarely intrusive. An unexpected feature is a long alphabetical list of further resources and health organizations that can be contacted for advice. Those, and the names of drugs included, relate only to the USA.
The division of the disc into separate sections for the encyclopedia of diseases, body atlas etc. helps a user to go straight to the kind of detail wanted; but this can confuse a browser. This is because the software has been written to record and keep track of a user’s progress throughout a search; and getting out of the current screen is only possible by backtracking to the start. Printing is achieved by highlighting any desired section and clicking on the icon at the start of a topic. Copying to a word‐processor or Word Pad is also possible.
Finally, for those with access to the Internet, the disc can lead directly to Online Health‐on‐Call to find more information on a topic. Related Web sites may be accessed from within the Encyclopedia articles.
In the CD‐ROM format, Mosby, quoted as: “a medical resource for doctors, nurses and medical students for 75 years,” is now more a tool for the man‐in‐the‐street.
