Biomedical Informatics Handbook, WikiPedia

From one of my LinkedIn groups:

“New Free Handbook on Biomedical Informatics has 250+ articles

In another striking innovation in the world of electronic publications and Web 2.0, the online encyclopedia Wikipedia, in its English version, has published today a new online Wikibook entitled “Handbook of Biomedical Informatics “, version 1.0, after more than 5 months of organization work. The book is based on articles published on the subject by Wikipedia.

Access to and the download of the book are totally free, with no need for registration of the user at the address:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Book:Biomedicalnformatics

The book has 276 pages in its PDF version, and gathers, organizes and classifies all the knowledge amassed by the Wikipedia articles on topics in health informatics, telehealth, standards and classifications in health informatics, and related topics, organized into 21 sections and more than 250 entries. Thus, it is considered one of the most comprehensive and complete books in the area.

Users can generate in real-time and download their own copy in PDF, or request a printed copy to a print shop operated by the Wikipedia Foundation. The final file is 4.7 MB.

The most interesting aspect of this new form of publication created by Wikipedia is that, due to the dynamic nature of Wikipedia articles, the book will remain in permanent updating process, i.e, the book will literally change daily.

The organizer of the book is Prof.Dr. Renato ME Sabbatini, former president and current director of Education and Professional Training of the Brazilian Society of Health Informatics, president of the Edumed for Education in Medicine and Health, Campinas, SP, Brazil, and retired adjunct professor of the Faculty of Medical Sciences UNICAMP, where he was also the founder and director of the Center for Biomedical Informatics for 20 years.

The Board of Professional Education and Training of the Brazilian Society of Health Informatics officially adopted the “Handbook of Biomedical Informatics” as a reference source and textbook for its educational programs, as well as the basic study material to obtain the official title of specialist in Health Informatics, to be launched in 2010. “