Effective use of medical-scientific Internet resources

Problem: The Internet is not structured hierarchically and therefore it distinguishes from today's common knowledge sources. The rapidly growing number of medical websites offers comprehensive but not easy to find information resources and continuing education opportunities for ophthalmologists. Methods and results: The efficiency of an Internet search is related to knowledge about: existing search strategies. Several search systems are described (search engines, catalogs, databases, indices, etc.). Additional advice about efficient usage (Meta-Search, use of Boolean operators, phrase search, etc.) is provided. The suggested search strategies are evaluated regarding their specific results, update status, and the usability of search engines used. New applications such as SemioMap and intelligent Agents are described. Conclusion: Today the Internet provides practitioners and scientists who are able to use efficient search strategies with easy and fast to use information resources. The total number of scientific-medical documents on the Web is growing very quickly. More and more, their content is related to current problems in patient treatment and future trends in clinical research.