The sixth edition of Magill's Medical Guide contains 1,178 entries, including 161 new subjects, on medical procedures, organs, organ systems, diseases, disorders and more. Purchase of the six volume print edition includes access to the electronic version at health.salem.com. According to the publisher's website “the purchase of the printed set entitles a school or library to three years of complimentary online access to the Medical Guide's content” (Salem Press, 2010). This includes both onsite and remote access. The reviewer only had access to the online version.
The interface is straightforward and easy to use. Tabs across the top of the screen allow for easy navigation of the site. These tabs allow you to search, browse, view the index, access the glossary, look at your profile, logon, get help, and find out more about Salem Health. After entering Magill's Medical Guide, the first screen offers a basic search box which allows the user to search for terms in the full text, abstract, title or top matter/keywords of an entry. The advanced search allows for searching for all of a group of words (Boolean and), an exact phrase, at least one of a group of words (Boolean or) and without a word or words (Boolean not). As with the basic search you may designate that your search be run against the full text, the abstract, the title or the top matter/keywords. The advanced search screen also allows for further limiting the search by selecting from a list of categories including Diagnosis and Testing, Mental Health, and Treatment and Therapy. Search results are listed on a tabbed column that defaults to showing all the results 20 entries per screen. Additional tabs allow further limiting to entries relating to children, women, men or the elderly. The list of results includes the title, which also acts as a link to the full entry, a definition, the author and the length of the entry in number of words. Results may be sorted by relevance, which is the default, alphabetically by title or by length.
A search would, on occasion, not return any results for a term that had previously generated hits. After exiting Magill's Medical Guide, closing and reopening the browser and re‐entering the guide, the search function would again work. It was not clear if the session had timed‐out or another problem was occurring.
In addition to searching, browsing may be done by choosing the Browse tab at the top of the screen. The browsing option allows the searcher to choose from one of eight categories: Anatomy and Physiology; Diagnosis and Testing; Diseases, Disorders and Symptoms; Mental Health; Prevention and Lifestyle; Social Issues; Specialties and Healthcare Providers; or Treatment and Therapy. These categories then subdivide into more specific categories from which individual entries may be selected for viewing. The Index tab allows the user to access an alphabetical list of the entries in the guide. The Glossary tab is exactly what it sounds like, an alphabetic list of words with definitions that may be unfamiliar to the user.
Patrons at libraries that have access to Magill's Medical Guide can set up individual accounts by clicking on the Logon tab. The registration process involves entering a name, e‐mail address and password. Once an account has been set up, the user may save and e‐mail entries. Users can also view or e‐mail citations or export them to bibliographic management software. Searches can also be saved to be rerun later. Unfortunately it does not allow the user to highlight or make notes on saved entries. The Profile tab at the top of the screen allows you to update your login information.
Articles range from about 500 to 3,500 words, are signed and include a bibliography. Many of the entries are written by authors with PhDs or MDs. Individual entries vary somewhat in type of content depending on what the entry discusses: a disease, disorder, procedure, an organ, etc. The right hand column contains the title of the entry, the anatomy or system affected, specialties and related fields and a very brief definition. This is followed by the text of the entry. In the case of disease and disorders, entries included the causes and symptoms, treatment and therapy, perspectives and prospects – which may include a brief history of the disease and current thinking/research. Search terms are highlighted in the entry for easy browsing within the entry. Some terms in the entry appear in blue text that indicates that they can be clicked on to show a pop‐up definition of the term. At the bottom of the column is a bibliography and the name of the author. The left hand column starts with a table of contents for the entry for easy navigation. This column also includes a glossary of key terms found in the entry, followed by a list of related terms with a link to their entries in Magill's Medical Guide. Many articles include photographs or simple drawings to help illustrate the topic at hand. While the topics covered are similar to those found in the Merck Manual of Diagnosis and Therapy, the guide is written for a lay audience and is much more accessible to those not in the medical field.
Entries do make use of medical and healthcare terminology, but through the use of the glossary and pop‐up definitions are easy to understand for the lay reader. While the entries do vary somewhat in content and tone due to the number of authors contributing to this resource, they are generally very straightforward and readable. Magill's Medical Guide is very easy to search, browse and navigate. This resource is most useful and recommended for public libraries and libraries serving healthcare consumers, patients and caregivers.
