Book2011
Testing Treatments
Evans, Thornton, Chalmers & Glasziou
A plain-language guide to why fair tests of treatments are necessary and how to spot claims that lack them.
link checked 17 Sept 2026Life & Health Sciences
Medicine & Health
Clinical knowledge, public health and the evidence beneath both — an area where bad information does measurable harm.
31 fields · 326 topics · 357 curated works
Fields within Medicine & Health
Human Anatomy & Physiology
12The map and the mechanism, prerequisite to everything else.
Foundations & Overviews · Gross Anatomy · Histology · Musculoskeletal Anatomy · Neuroanatomy (Clinical)
Internal Medicine & Diagnosis
9The generalist's discipline — pattern recognition under uncertainty.
Foundations & Overviews · Clinical Reasoning · History & Physical Examination · Differential Diagnosis · Diagnostic Error
Cardiovascular Medicine
11The leading cause of death worldwide.
Foundations & Overviews · Coronary Artery Disease · Heart Failure · Arrhythmias · Electrocardiography
Neurology & Neurosurgery
12Disorders of the nervous system — stroke, epilepsy and dementia, where localising the lesion is half the work.
Foundations & Overviews · Stroke · Epilepsy · Multiple Sclerosis · Parkinson's Disease
Oncology
12Cancer biology and its treatment — the hallmarks, staging, and the shift from cytotoxic to targeted therapy.
Foundations & Overviews · Cancer Biology & Hallmarks · Carcinogenesis · Tumour Staging · Chemotherapy
Infectious Disease
12Pathogens, transmission and control.
Foundations & Overviews · Bacterial Infections · Viral Infections · Fungal Infections · Parasitic Disease
Immunology & Rheumatology
9When the immune system attacks the wrong target.
Foundations & Overviews · Rheumatoid Arthritis · Systemic Lupus Erythematosus · Vasculitis · Spondyloarthropathies
Endocrinology & Metabolism
10Hormonal regulation and its disorders.
Foundations & Overviews · Diabetes Mellitus · Insulin Resistance · Thyroid Disorders · Adrenal Disorders
Gastroenterology & Hepatology
10The gut, the liver and everything they influence.
Foundations & Overviews · Inflammatory Bowel Disease · Irritable Bowel Syndrome · Peptic Ulcer Disease · Liver Disease & Cirrhosis
Respiratory Medicine
10Airway, lung and gas exchange disorders.
Foundations & Overviews · Asthma · COPD · Pneumonia · Interstitial Lung Disease
Nephrology & Urology
10Kidney function, filtration and the urinary tract.
Foundations & Overviews · Acute Kidney Injury · Chronic Kidney Disease · Dialysis · Kidney Transplantation
Surgery
12Intervention with a scalpel, and the judgement of when not to.
Foundations & Overviews · Surgical Principles · General Surgery · Trauma Surgery · Vascular Surgery
Emergency & Critical Care
11Medicine under time pressure with incomplete information.
Foundations & Overviews · Triage · Resuscitation & ACLS · Shock · Sepsis
Anaesthesiology & Pain Medicine
9Controlled unconsciousness, and the management of pain.
Foundations & Overviews · General Anaesthesia · Regional Anaesthesia · Airway Management · Anaesthetic Pharmacology
Paediatrics
9Medicine for patients who are not small adults.
Foundations & Overviews · Neonatology · Child Development · Childhood Immunisation · Paediatric Infectious Disease
Obstetrics & Gynaecology
10Reproductive health, pregnancy and birth.
Foundations & Overviews · Antenatal Care · Labour & Delivery · Obstetric Complications · Maternal Mortality
Psychiatry & Mental Health
14Clinical treatment of mental illness.
Foundations & Overviews · Depressive Disorders · Anxiety Disorders · Bipolar Disorder · Schizophrenia & Psychosis
Dermatology
9The largest organ, and the most visible diagnoses.
Foundations & Overviews · Eczema & Dermatitis · Psoriasis · Acne · Skin Infections
Ophthalmology & Otolaryngology
10Eyes, ears, nose and throat — the specialties of the special senses, where small structures carry large consequence.
Foundations & Overviews · Refractive Error · Cataract · Glaucoma · Retinal Disease
Musculoskeletal & Orthopaedics
10Bones, joints, tendons and the injuries that limit people.
Foundations & Overviews · Fractures & Fixation · Joint Replacement · Sports Injuries · Back & Neck Pain
Radiology & Medical Imaging
10Seeing inside without opening — radiography, CT, MRI and ultrasound, and the reading that turns signal into diagnosis.
Foundations & Overviews · Radiography · Computed Tomography · Magnetic Resonance Imaging · Ultrasound
Pathology & Laboratory Medicine
11Where diagnoses are confirmed — histology, clinical chemistry and molecular tests, underneath most clinical decisions.
Foundations & Overviews · General Pathology · Histopathology · Cytopathology · Clinical Chemistry
Pharmacology & Therapeutics
11What drugs do, and what they do that you did not want.
Foundations & Overviews · Pharmacokinetics · Pharmacodynamics · Drug Interactions · Adverse Drug Reactions
Geriatrics & Palliative Care
10Medicine near the end of life, where goals change.
Foundations & Overviews · Ageing Physiology · Frailty · Falls & Mobility · Cognitive Decline
Sports & Exercise Medicine
9Performance, injury and the medicine of healthy bodies.
Foundations & Overviews · Exercise Prescription · Injury Prevention · Return to Play · Concussion in Sport
Nutrition Science
10Food and health — a field with unusually noisy evidence.
Foundations & Overviews · Macronutrients · Micronutrients & Deficiency · Energy Balance · Dietary Patterns
Public Health & Epidemiology
13Health at the level of populations rather than patients.
Foundations & Overviews · Study Design in Epidemiology · Disease Surveillance · Outbreak Investigation · Infectious Disease Modelling
Global Health
9Health where resources are the binding constraint.
Foundations & Overviews · Maternal & Child Health · Neglected Tropical Diseases · Malaria · Water, Sanitation & Hygiene
Evidence-Based Medicine
12How to tell whether a medical claim is supported — the most transferable skill in this domain.
Foundations & Overviews · Levels of Evidence · Randomised Controlled Trials in Medicine · Systematic Review & Meta-Analysis · Number Needed to Treat
Medical Ethics & Law
10The rules that constrain clinical action.
Foundations & Overviews · Informed Consent · Patient Autonomy · Confidentiality · Resource Allocation & Triage Ethics
History of Medicine
10How medicine became effective, mostly quite recently.
Foundations & Overviews · Ancient & Classical Medicine · Germ Theory · Antiseptic Surgery · Discovery of Antibiotics
Reading in Medicine & Health
357A way in
Start here
No prior grounding assumed.
Testing Treatments
Evans, Thornton, Chalmers & Glasziou · 2011
A plain-language guide to why fair tests of treatments are necessary and how to spot claims that lack them.
+71 more at this level
Then
Assumes you know the vocabulary.
On the Mode of Communication of Cholera
John Snow · 1855
Maps cholera deaths to a single water pump and establishes epidemiological reasoning before germ theory existed.
+129 more at this level
Go deeper
Primary sources and full treatments.
De Humani Corporis Fabrica
Andreas Vesalius · 1543
Rebuilt anatomy on direct human dissection rather than Galen's animal-based authority, correcting a long list of errors that had gone unquestioned…
+154 more at this level
12 of 357 works
Book1817
An Essay on the Shaking Palsy
James Parkinson
Describes six cases of a tremor-and-rigidity syndrome he calls paralysis agitans, isolating it as a distinct disease from the general palsies it had previously been lumped with.
link checked 17 Sept 2026Book1904
Aequanimitas: With Other Addresses to Medical Students, Nurses and Practitioners of Medicine
William Osler
Collects addresses urging 'equanimity' — calm, unshaken judgement — as the essential professional temperament for physicians, alongside Osler's own more contentious argument that a doctor's most productive years end by sixty.
link checked 17 Sept 2026Book1910
The Physiology of Reproduction
F. H. A. Marshall
Surveys reproductive physiology across species as a single comparative science, giving the field its first systematic textbook treatment and establishing the concept of the oestrous cycle.
link failing as of 17 Sept 2026Report1947
The Nuremberg Code
Nuremberg Military Tribunal
Sets out ten conditions for ethical human experimentation, beginning with voluntary consent, written in direct response to the medical experiments prosecuted at Nuremberg.
link checked 17 Sept 2026Paper1958
Demonstration of a New Gastroscope, the Fiberscope
Basil I. Hirschowitz, Larry E. Curtiss, C. Wilbur Peters & Herbert M. Pollard
Describes the first flexible fiberoptic gastroscope, replacing rigid instruments and making direct visual examination of the entire stomach practical for the first time.
Report1964
Smoking and Health: Report of the Advisory Committee to the Surgeon General of the Public Health Service
Surgeon General's Advisory Committee on Smoking and Health
Reviews the accumulated pathological and epidemiological evidence to conclude officially that cigarette smoking causes lung cancer, triggering the first wave of American tobacco-control policy.
link checked 17 Sept 2026Report1964
Declaration of Helsinki
World Medical Association
Sets out ethical principles for medical research on human subjects, distinguishing therapeutic from non-therapeutic research and requiring free informed consent, extending the Nuremberg Code into ongoing professional self-regulation.
link checked 17 Sept 2026Book1969
On Death and Dying
Elisabeth Kübler-Ross
Argues, from interviews with dying patients, that dying follows a recognisable psychological sequence — denial, anger, bargaining, depression, acceptance — and that clinicians who ignore it fail their patients at the end of life.
Report1973
Final Report of the Tuskegee Syphilis Study Ad Hoc Advisory Panel
Tuskegee Syphilis Study Ad Hoc Advisory Panel
Concludes that a forty-year study of untreated syphilis in Black men was ethically unjustified from its start, that subjects were denied treatment and informed consent throughout, and recommends federal rules to prevent a repeat.
link checked 17 Sept 2026Report1977
The Selection of Essential Drugs: Report of a WHO Expert Committee
World Health Organization
Introduces the concept of a limited national list of essential medicines chosen for proven efficacy, safety and comparative cost, arguing that most health systems could meet the great majority of their populations' needs with a few hundred well-chosen drugs rather than the tens of thousands on the market.
link checked 17 Sept 2026Report1978
Declaration of Alma-Ata
International Conference on Primary Health Care
Declares primary health care, not hospital-centred specialist medicine, the route to health for all, and commits governments to it as a matter of social justice.
link checked 17 Sept 2026FreeEntry