From George D. Lundberg, MD, 7/04 In common medical parlance, the term "prescription" has come to be virtually synonymous to prescribing a drug. But, the definition of "prescription" actually is much broader. A physician could prescribe a diagnostic test, an exercise program, or a diet, for example. Recently, Don Kemper of Healthwise has spearheaded a movement called Information Therapy in which physicians write "prescriptions for information." Apart from surgery, physical manipulation, radiation, and chemicals, most of the practice of medicine is information: acquiring it, interpreting it, dispensing it, acting upon it. The medical Internet contains the world's greatest library. Healthy people can use this information to stay well, acutely ill people to get well, and chronically ill people to manage their diseases. Of course, just as with the medium of paper, there is a lot of incorrect information on the Internet. Thus, physicians should know the information their patients must have to meet their health goals. I believe that all physicians should prescribe one or two of the most reliable general health Internet sites and the best one or two specialty sites for each patient for each known condition. Beyond that, physicians should prescribe actual URLs for very specific problems. The Internet information is free of charge and the reading is on the patient's own time. Everybody wins! That's my opinion. George D. Lundberg, MD, Editor in Chief, Medscape General Medicine Disclosure: George D. Lundberg, MD, is an employee of WebMD. Remember we are NOT Doctors and have NO medical training. This site is like an Encylopedia - there are many pages, many links on many topics. Support our work with any size DONATION - see left side of any page - for how to donate. You can help raise awareness of CAM.