SearchMedica
This is a search engine with a difference: It returns only clinical information from about 1,000 sources.
SearchMedica’s “About” page says it “scans well-known, credible journals, systematic reviews, and evidence-based article” and that it “selects and scans patient-directed websites, online CME courses, and government databases of clinical trials and practice guidelines.”
A quick search for “influenza” – admittedly a very broad term – yielded more than 53,000 results, but the site prominently displays links to help narrow the results based on sources of information:
To the left of the search results, it also offers suggested terms to either broaden or narrow the search. To broaden this particular search it suggests “lower respiratory tract infection” and “orthomyxovirus infection.” For narrower results, it suggests “bird flu,” “equine influenza,” “swine influenza” and “asian flu.”
It also has a “Suggested Medical Searches” page that offers predefined search terms to help users find relevant results.
The site is run by CMPMedica, part of United Business Media. The site says it is supported by ads and sponsorships and notes that “Advertisers have no influence whatever on our search results, and SearchMedica does not include advertiser websites among the scanned content.”
Medpedia
Yet another Web site is on its way and the organizers aspire to offer a wiki for a wide and diverse array of health care professionals, researchers, journalists and consumers. It could be one more tool for your journalistic toolkit.
Perhaps its most important value for journalists will be that it is intended to be a “collaborative encyclopedia and resource for information about health, medicine and the body.”
Medpedia is billed as a technology platform for a “worldwide health community.” The stated goal is ambitious: “to create a new model of how the world will assemble, maintain, critique and access medical knowledge … (and) become a repository of up-to-date unbiased medical information, contributed and maintained by health experts around the world, and freely available to everyone.”
There are some restrictions, though. Only physicians and Ph.D.s in a biomedical or health field can edit Medpedia’s “knowledge base,” and only health and medical professionals can use the professional network. However, consumers can suggest changes to article pages and participate in forums.
Contributors include Harvard Medical School, Stanford School of Medicine, Berkeley School of Public Health, and the University of Michigan Medical School, among others. So far, 110 organizations have contributed or pledged over 7,000 pages of content. The American Heart Association plans to promote the site to its member and the NHS Choices (National Health Service) of the U.K. expects to make use. Funding comes from Ooga Labs.
UPDATE: There is quite a bit of discussion about Medpedia on Twitter (#medpedia).
