Nursing Degree Guide

By Laura Milligan

Although snagging some real face time with your doctor is invaluable to debunking all of your cryptic symptoms, there are other alternatives to researching medical questions. The online world is full of communities, virtual playgrounds, research centers and networking corners for everyone in the medical field–including patients–to get together and swap information and support. From nurses wanting to learn more about continuing education or new medical trends to cancer patients looking for a little encouragement and advice to doctors experimenting with innovative training opportunities, check out these awesome virtual worlds.

1. Second Life: The immensely popular SecondLife virtual reality grid has been used in education, business training exercises and more. The health care industry has used Second Life to encourage advanced training for doctors and nurses, as a place for teens to learn about adolescent health issues, and more.
2. Virtual Medical Centre: Patients can visit Virtual Medical Centre to learn about their health risks, current health and medical condition, drug information, treatment options and a lot more. The Australian-based site also features 3D medical animations, medical videos, information on special events and conferences, research and medical trials, and more.
3. ThirdAid: Touted as “the patient to patient health community,” ThirdAid invites members to join communities based on their medical condition. Currently, the site sponsors 800 different medical communities for patients to share advice, treatment and side effect risks, and other information and support.
4. Cancer backup: This UK-based community publishes information so that cancer patients can research treatments, find doctors and learn all about the different types of cancer in one easy-to-access spot. Cancer backup also lets patients “speak to a nurse” and join the What Now? cancer community for chats, videos, forums, blogs and more.
5. Patients Like Me: This virtual world is just for patients who want to find comfort, information and support from other people fighting the same illness or living with the same health condition. Patients Like Me features online communities for anxiety, Parkinson’s disease, Multiple Sclerosis, HIV/AIDS, biploar disorder, OCD, and others.
6. Ozmosis: Doctors get together in this corner of the Internet to discuss treatment trends, drug information, research, events and a lot more. It’s also free for all doctors to join.
7. Sermo: Sermo is another virtual world for doctors and is currently advertised as “the largest online physicians’ community.” Here, doctors can participate in clinical discussions, discuss the future of health care, network, share tips on health care technology and treatments, and more. Sermo is for doctors only and is a safe, secure portal for information sharing.
8. Nurse’s Cafe: Nurses get together through this social network to talk about jobs, continuing education, health care trends and more.
9. MDAdvice.com: Whether you’re a patient, nurse, medical student or other doctor, take advantage of the “ask a doctor” feature on MDAdvice.com to get information about a medical condition without submitting your personal information.
10. Starbright World: Teenagers suffering from chronic diseases, as well as teenage siblings of patients with serious medical problems, can find support and information within this virtual world. Starbright World connects patients to each other, so they can offer advice and support while fighting disease. The social media site also sponsors essay contests, games and more.
11. Nurse Connect: Nurse Connect is another virtual community devoted to bringing nurses together. Members can ask a nurse a question, locate nurses in their area, swap career information and learn about continuing education and nursing training programs.
12. Doctors Lounge: Doctors Lounge isn’t just for doctors: this virtual world is made up of nurses, doctors and others in the health care industry, as well as anyone who wants to ask questions and learn more about a particular medical condition. Doctors Lounge also features clinical news, health care trends, conference information, journal summaries and plenty of information for specialties like pediatrics or infections.
13. New Media Medicine: New Media Medicine currently welcomes over 46,000 members to take advantage of its social networking capabilities. Medical students and doctors get together on New Media Medicine to talk about the industry, school, medicine and treatments, watch videos and more.
14. WrongDiagnosis.com: This online portal features loads of information on symptoms, treatments, diseases and more. WrongDiagnosis.com also sponsors an online community, videos, medical tools, an ask-a-doctor feature, and plenty more for researching medical conditions.
15. MayoClinic.com: Doctors, nurses and patients can get lost playing around with the features, tools and informational articles on MayoClinic.com. Finding authoritative, accurate and updated information is easy when you visit this site. Visitors can look up a symptom, find out their risk factor for a particular disease, learn how to deal with chronic diseases and medical treatments, research drugs, watch medical videos, listen to podcasts, read blogs, ask a specialist and more.
16. Free Dive: Patients, especially children patients, fighting chronic diseases can play this game to distract them from painful, stressful medical procedures. The game “invites players to swim with sea turtles and tropical fish as they hunt for hidden treasure” in a 3D, virtual reality game designed to soothe and distract.
17. allnurses.com: Nurses and nursing students will find articles, forums, contests and medical information on this social networking site.
18. Sim City Medical Centre: Sim City is another great place to set up a virtual world for patients, medical training and socializing.
19. WebAnatomy: The University of Minnesota’s WebAnatomy center quizzes you on anatomy, medical terms and more. You can take a test yourself or compete against the clock or other players.
20. Nursing Center: Nurses can get lost in this virtual world just for them. It includes a career center and job search, nurse community, conference and event calendar, drug updates, journal articles and more.
21. Medical Gross Anatomy Games: Anyone can play these online medical training games to learn about the movements of the lower and upper limbs, discover the nervous system and spinal cord, learn about cells and tissues, and more.
22. Pulse!!: This computer simulation game is used in medical schools and nursing schools across the country. Pulse!! is funded by the federal government and works on PCs.
23. Personal Investigator: Teens struggling with depression and other mental health problems can use Personal Investigator as part of their therapy. Players can talk about their problems with virtual detectives, listen to testimonials from other teens, and hunt for clues, or answers, to their problems.
24. BBronkie the Bronchiasaurus: Kids and adults can learn how to monitor and treat asthma with this game.
25. HIV/AIDS Interactive Nights Out: Use this game to teach young people about HIV/AIDS risk factors like drugs, sports and unprotected sex.

By Joel West

The blogosphere is full of information and commentary for people of all walks of life, and pharmacists are no exception. What follows is a list of the Top 50 Pharmacist Blogs that focus on a wide variety of topics, from opinionated postings to the health and well-being of patients.

Pharmacy Opinion Blogs

Just like with other jobs, pharmacists have to deal with a lot each day that stresses them out and bogs them down. The following blogs discuss issues that pharmacists have to face on a daily basis and hold nothing back in regard to how they feel about everything from patients to paperwork. Get ready to laugh, cry, or be shocked by what these bloggers have to say about what they deal with in the profession.

1. The Angry Pharmacist: For opinionated posts about drugs, patients, and pharmacy in general, read through this blog and see how this blogger earned his name.
2. Jim Plagakis: This pharmacist’s blog discusses current trends and problems in the world of pharmacy.
3. Drug Monkey: According to this blog, ”your pharmacist my hate you.” Take a look and find out why.
4. Drugs R Phun: This pharmacist blows off steam from the stress of the job by telling anecdotal stories about patients that come to her pharmacy.
5. Fast Food Pharmacy: This blog is dedicated to the in and out, fast paced pharmacy world. Laughs and strange patient stories are guaranteed when you visit.
6. The Angriest Pharmacist: This blog is not for the faint of heart. For real, unadulterated opinions on the day to day life of a pharmacist, browse through the posts on this blog.
7. And You Wonder Why Your Pharmacist Never Smiles: This blogger focuses on the pharmacist-patient relationship and certainly has a lot to say on the matter.
8. The Frantic Pharmacist: Take a look at what this pharmacist has to say about the profession, and the ups and downs that come along with dealing with patients as well as colleagues.
9. Farmacy is Fun: Farmacy is Fun takes a lighthearted approach to dealing with patients and their care.
10. A Day at the Pharmacy: The posts on this blog come from a provincial UK Pharmacist who discusses dealing with annoying, as well as ”occasionally lovely” patients and their needs.
11. Pharmacy Slave: Think you have it bad? Read this blogger’s humorous posts and breathe a sigh of relief.
12. Pharm Barbie: Read the musings of this pharmacy student who works ”twiddling her thumbs in a chain pharmacy.”
13. Pharmer Jane: For a good mix of humor, advice, and discussion related to daily life in the pharmacy, take a peek at what Pharmer Jane has to say.
14. Pissed Pharmacist: The tagline says, ”I think I need a new job.” That’s just the beginning. For curt, abbreviated humorous posts and rants about being a pharmacist, check this blog out.
15. SomePharmacyGuy: Find musings on the daily grind of pharmacy, from interpreting doctors’ handwriting to dealing with irritating patients when you visit this Australian pharmacist’s blog.
16. Soul Sucking Pharmacy: Read humorous posts from a pharmacist who guarantees that his blog is not HIPAA compliant.
17. Pharmacy God: This retail pharmacy veteran relates tales of being a pharmacist in a time when the job entails far more than just filling prescriptions.
18. The Politically Incorrect Pharmacist: This blogger strives to ”tell it like it is,” without holding back. Amuse yourself with his fearless posts about the world of pharmacy.
19. The Ole’ Apothecary: This blog is about ”pondering what pharmacy is and where it’s going.” The posts range from serious, to humorous, to raving rants.
20. Pharmacy Chick: Another retail pharmacist blogs about the daily goings-on at a pharmacy. The posts on this site are eloquently written and humorous, and give some insight to the reader in the process.

Pharmacy News and Informational Blogs

All pharmacy blogs are not about just the day-to-day dealings with patients. The following blogs are about helping other pharmacists to stay informed, whether about the latest recall, HIPAA compliance, or a whole host of other pharmacy-related issues.

21. Pharmacist Daily: Find current and relevant information for pharmacists and contribute to the discussions related to a constantly-changing profession.
22. The Blonde Pharmacist: News and information on the latest pharmacy issues can be found on this blog, along with some strongly-voiced opinions regarding some hot-button issues.
23. Pharmacy and Health Blog: This blog has many posts related to new and cutting-edge treatments and articles related to patient care as well as the profession itself. See what you can learn about the latest health trends, or comment on an existing post.
24. Online Pharmacy News: Find interesting stories, features, and the latest developments in pharmacy news when you visit this blog.
25. RaPharmacy (Canadian Pharmacy News): Take a look at this blog to learn more about drugs for male sexual health and news related to this topic.
26. Rx Times Blog: The goal of this blog is to help keep pharmacists in the know regarding key issues related to giving excellent patient care. Check out what other pharmacists have to say and gather tips, advice, and best practices as well.
27. Fierce Health IT: For up-to-date news related to the world of patient care and pharmacy in a technological context, look no further than Fierce Health IT.
28. PRIME Pharmacist Case Studies: Stay abreast of what’s going on in the world of case studies involving various frequently-prescribed medications and their interactions. Find common side effects and more when you look into the latest case studies on this blog.
29. Bioethics.net: Be informed of current ethical dilemmas facing medical professionals and pharmacist, and see how your peers are responding to these dilemmas.

Professional Development Blogs

Staying on top of all of the information and technology in any field can be quite a chore. See what these bloggers have to say in relation to the professional development of a pharmacist.

30. Transitional Committee Blog: Read this blog for views on pharmacy as a profession that is in constant flux. Articles and editorials regarding the role of the pharmacist are primarily featured
31. Pharmacist’s Place: Check out this blog for important discussions, from whether certification is more important than experience, to the value of continuing your education in the field of pharmacy.

Pharmacology Blogs

Pharmacology is the study of how drugs interact with living organisms to produce a change in function. The following blogs feature articles related to drug interactions of various kinds.

32. Pharmacology Journal: Pharmacists may gain some insight about clinical pharmacology by visiting this site.
33. Indiana Systematic Thinking: Posts related to mental health pharmacology, as well as other pharmacology-related posts are available through Indiana Systematic Thinking.
34. Ask a Scientician: This blog, posted by an online pharmacist, has valuable information on drug interactions and pharmacology.
35. My Dominant Hemisphere: Find in-depth articles and best practices related to various pharmacological issues, among other things when you visit this blog.
36. Lancashire Care Library and Information Service: Browse through this blog’s treasure trove of pharmacy and pharmacological posts.

Pharmaceutical Blogs

Once a drug’s ability to change an organism’s function is established as having medicinal value, it is then considered a pharmaceutical. Take some time to look through these blogs for more information on specific pharmaceuticals and pharmaceuticals in general.

37. Eye on FDA: Get the latest news and information related to the Food and Drug Administration’s impact and relationship with pharmaceuticals and the companies that produce them.
38. Black Triangle: Join discussion groups or peruse the articles related to drugs and their effects on patients.
39. Pharma Marketing Blog: Opinions on pharmaceutical companies and their marketing practices, as well as the effects of their drugs on the public is the focus of this blogger’s attention.
40. WSJ Health Blog: Sift through Wall Street Journal’s authoritative collection of articles on pharmaceuticals and health care.
41. Pharma Blogosphere: As the site it self declares, this is ”a blog about blogging in the pharmaceutical industry.”
42. Hooked: Ethics, Medicine, and Pharma: Updated posts on ethical issues and news related to big pharmaceutical companies can be found on this particular blog.
43. In The Pipeline: This blog is hosted by a man who has worked for several major pharmaceutical companies over the last nineteen years. For an informed, insider opinion about the inner workings of pharmaceutical companies, visit his blog.
44. The IN VIVO Blog: Browse through an amazing amount of articles and research on a wide variety of topics related to the pharmaceutical industry on The IN VIVO Blog.
45. Jim Edwards’s NRx: Look to the blog for news and information on the drug business that ”the media hasn’t written yet.”
46. Fierce Pharma: Turn to Fierce Pharma for daily updates related to big pharmaceutical companies and their products.
47. Prescription Access Litigation: Stay informed regarding consumer education, class action lawsuits, and drug industry accountability issues by visiting this blog.
48. PharmaGossip: Keep current with the latest gossip regarding pharmaceuticals and pharmaceutical companies.
49. Drug Injury Watch: Drug Injury Watch provides readers with new and information related to side effects and interactions of prescription drugs.
50. Pharmalive: This blog is the self-proclaimed ”pulse of the pharmaceutical industry. Articles, information, commentary and much more related to pharmaceuticals are available for readers to look through.