Pallipedia was recently launched as a free online palliative care dictionary to be built by the international community under the auspices of IAHPC. The dictionary may be found at www.pallipedia.org

Pallipedia is the result of a strategic plan carried out in early 2008 by the IAHPC Board of Directors who recommended developing and implementing a palliative care specialized online dictionary to improve palliative care knowledge and resources for the global community.

Pallipedia offers two options for visitors:

1. To search for a term or concept related to the field of palliative care - this capability includes stop words and query language.
2. To submit a term, or concept, related to the field of palliative care – onlyaccepted terms and concepts are automatically indexed in alphabetical order.

With the advances in technology and new knowledge as a result of research over the past few years, the amount of information on the Internet has grown exponentially. As part of this growth, several online dictionaries have been built, but none specific to palliative care. Individuals who seek the definition of a term related to the field are forced to look to various sources, some of which do not meet appropriate quality standards.

The quality of the Pallipedia dictionary will be ensured because of a set of criteria which must be met in order for a term to be accepted and uploaded. Pallipedia will offer only definitions published in peer reviewed journals and referenced publications, and only after a sound consensus based process.

Pallipedia is an ongoing project that will be nurtured by the global palliative care community. By following accepted criteria, anyone with online access can submit terms to Pallipedia. Special qualifications are not required and everyone is encouraged to submit a term or concept.

We are very excited about this new project and grateful for the positive responses from the palliative care community and their interest in Pallipedia. We hope that this dictionary will become an important tool for all, and that our readers will participate in its development.

To submit a term, or browse the dictionary, please go to www.hospicecare.com and click on the Pallipedia icon, or go to www.pallipedia.org

from IAHPC eNews 2009; Volume 10, No 9; September