It also provides access to both public and subscription-based medical journals with the latest updates. The CDL site also offers diagnostic and treatment procedures from medical textbooks in manageable bites so that participating physicians can quickly identify what they need, says Cleveland. Humble beginnings Originally, the CDL was created to offer a medical resource for rural doctors across Texas and to entice more young doctors to take rural practices, says Dr. Irvine Prather, director of the family practice residency in the Health Science Center's Department of Family Medicine. The school trains more family practice physicians for rural communities than any other medical school in Texas. It is working to address a shortage, Prather says.
Federal officials say a rural doctor shortage is a national problem that's growing.
The CDL provides a way to connect rural practitioners with the same quality of information that is available to their non-rural peers. The CDL was created in 1995 with a grant from the federal Health Resources and Services Administration to Cleveland and Prather. Recently, the University of Alabama joined the project with the collaboration of UNT alumnus Steven MacCall, an assistant professor in UA's School of Library and Information Studies. The original idea was to train future physicians to use the Internet for quick access to medical information. The CDL serves as a filter, providing links to reputable sites.