SearchMedica
UK-based SearchMedica, an advertising-supported search portal run by CMPMedica (part of United Business Media) bills itself as “The GP’s search engine.”
SearchMedica’s editorial policy explains from whence search results are drawn:
Our list of ‘medical sites chosen by GPs’ is exactly that. It contains around 1,200 websites – all of which have been selected by GPs for their usefulness. The list currently contains the sites of all the pre-eminent medical organisations in the UK, US, Australasia and Europe, some 600 checked and vetted patient information websites – most of them based in the UK, all of the medical journals of relevance to UK GPs and a wealth of other authoritative medical websites our users have suggested to be of value in their work. GPs are constantly suggesting new sites to us via our ‘Suggest a site’ link. Every new site is tested against the following criteria by our editorial team before inclusion in SearchMedica:
- Relevance: We bring all of Pulse’s editorial experience to bear on this question. To be ‘relevant’ in this context sites must be useful to GPs in one or other aspects of their day-to-day work.
- Authority: Sites must be professional in their aims and execution. Accreditation or endorsement by a recognised medical body is a good indicator of authority in this context. Independence is also an important factor
- Reliability: Sites must be stable and consistent.
Extra care is taken with sites run by commercial organisations. These can hold useful content for GPs but they must meet the criteria above in order to be included.
Interesting that they confirm the view that commercial sites must be held up to extra scrtuiny … even though SearchMedica is itself advertising-supported.
A few interesting features:
- Filters allow users to restrict search to UK content only or NHS sites only. This reminds me of the need Dean Giustini has expressed for medical search services that are particular to the needs of Canadian clinicians.
- Development of the site has a social aspect to it, as it invites users to join their Super User Group, and encourages users to submit new sites to be included in SearchMedica’s indexing and search resullts.
- SearchMedica’s interface does include some faceted (or ‘clustered’) searching. When I searched for “Ulcerative Colitis”, SearchMedica returned along the left side of the screen categorized links for Evidence, Patient Information, Patient Support, and Guidelines.
- There is an interesting function called “Broader Searches.” When I clicked this after searching for “Ulcerative Colitis, it recommended a search for “inflammatory bowel condition.”
- SearchMedica also provides a set of “Related Concepts” search links. Here’s a screen capture of the Related Concepts displayed following my search for “Ulcerative Colitis”
- I couldn’t help but notice at the bottom of the About page a disclaimer: “This site is intended for healthcare professionals only“.
More aboutSearchMedica on their Help page.
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December 14th, 2006 at 3:44 pm
[...] Both Dean Giustini and David Rothman posted previously about the UK version of SearchMedica, but there is now a US version with France and Spain editions coming soon. The search engine, designed for practitioners, “finds journal articles from credible medical organizations, research results from human studies and information about medications you can use in your practice today.” [...]