Open access medical textbooks: sharing knowledge globally

Abstract

When you visit a medical specialist, you trust that he or she is keeping up with cutting edge knowledge in the field to provide you with the best medical care possible. However, the cost of new reference resources and the latest textbooks can be prohibitively high, especially in developing countries where a new textbook may cost ~2 months' salary. Fortunately for otolaryngologists (the medical specialists focussing on diseases of the ear, nose and throat – ENTs for short), two free, high quality textbooks are available online. UCT's Prof Johan Fagan, Head of the Division of Otolaryngology has taken the initiative to develop freely available, high quality reference resources for ENTs.