The Internet as an information source for geriatricians

Electronic storage of and access to medical data is becoming increasingly common. Advances in computer technology and telecommunications have made it possible to store vast amounts of information in databases and transmit this information rapidly to any place on the globe. At the forefront of this technology is the Internet, a worldwide computer network that links together over 10 million computers in more than 80 countries. The Internet is an unprecedented information resource. There are tens of thousands of computers on the Internet that are freely accessible to the general public. Commercial organisations, academic institutions and government agencies are just some of the entities that can be accessed through the Internet. There are a large number of medical resources at these sites including electronic journals, online databases and search services, teaching materials, and methods for obtaining online continuing medical education credits. The Internet offers a variety of services such as electronic mail, discussion groups and the ability to log on to and run programs on remote computers. The one service, however, that has been responsible for the phenomenal growth of the Internet is the World Wide Web, the primary focus of this article. The World Wide Web allows a user to view documents that contain text, graphics, images, and movie and sound clips. In addition, any of these elements can be linked to other documents or services anywhere on the Internet. This article gives a general overview of the Internet and the medical resources it contains, with an emphasis on material related to geriatrics and aging. The Internet is in a state of continual evolution, and it is likely that dramatic new capabilities will become available in the near future.