Table 4

Awareness and usefulness of rare disease internet resources

Internet resourceN*Aware of resource N (%)Aware and used resource N (%)Aware, used and found resource useful N (%)
Rare disease-specific resources
 APSU Study protocols, case definitions, website and report239213 (90)128 (54)50 (21)
 OMIM234178 (76)118 (50)73 (31)
 POSSUM233157(67)64 (28)30 (13)
Orphanet Portal for Rare Diseases 234116 (50)66 (28)45 (19)
Orphanet Journal of Rare Diseases 23192 (40)43 (19)26 (11)
 HGSA22689 (39)25 (11)9 (4)
 NORD, USA23583 (35)26 (11)13 (6)
 AGSA†22550 (22)15 (7)7 (3)
 Centre for Genetic Education (NSW Health)22749 (22)28 (12)20 (9)
 EURORDIS22847 (21)15 (7)5 (2)
General resources
 PubMed, Medline, or similar240240 (100)235 (98)168 (71)
 Cochrane Library234233 (100)208 (89)127 (61)
 Up-To-Date239233 (98)203 (85)147 (72)
 BMJ Best Practice guidelines237216 (91)136 (57)62 (46)
 NICE, UK236222 (94)182 (77)117 (64)
 RACP website and CME Resources231199 (87)107 (46)23 (22)
 Centres for Disease Control National Guidelines Clearing House235120 (51)49 (21)18 (37)
  • *Number of respondents that answered this question.

  • †AGSA changed its name to Genetic Alliance Australia.

  • AGSA, Association of Genetic Support of Australasia; EURORDIS; CME, continuing medical education; European Organisation for Rare Diseases; HGSA, Human Genetics Society of Australia; NICE, National Institutes for Health and Clinical Excellence; NORD, National Organisation for Rare Diseases; OMIM, Online Mendelian Inheritance in Man; POSSUM, Pictures Of Standard Syndromes and Undiagnosed Malformations; RACP, Royal Australasian College of Physicians.