Archive for March, 2008

SearchMedica Unveils Six New Specialized Clinical Web Searches

Tuesday, March 18th, 2008

SearchMedica adds cardiovascular, diabetes/endocrine, infectious disease, musculoskeletal, pediatric, and respiratory disease categories to cancer/hemic, mental/nervous system and general medicine

NEW YORK, March 18, 2008 – SearchMedica.com, the leading search engine for medical professionals, today unveiled six new searchable disease categories. Now, medical professionals can search the Web for credible, clinical information within general medicine or eight more specific categories.

“In talking with medical professionals who actively use SearchMedica for more than a year now, we have gained a much better understanding of the motivations driving medical professionals online and ways they like to slice information and data,” said Cyndy Finnie, senior product manager for SearchMedica. “Their own medical specialties don’t limit their information gathering needs. It’s usually patient conditions that dictate the types of information they seek.”

Although SearchMedica encourages medical professionals to register to receive updates about new content and tips on how to use various advanced tools, registration is not required. Medical professionals can visit the site, try the upgraded search functionality and share their feedback at SearchMedica.com.

SearchMedica provides free, open access to the Web’s most authoritative content for medical professionals. The new organization of disease categories keeps with this mission and simplifies the search process for medical professionals. The category of musculoskeletal disorders, for example, includes articles from journals and professional associations for rheumatologists and orthopedists, but it also contains other clinical information of use to other specialists, including information on sports medicine and osteoporosis, for example.

“Medical professionals consistently use SearchMedica with a patient’s symptom or disease state in mind, and conversations with users are just one instance where this topic has come up. We also heard this feedback during medical meetings,” added Finnie. “We’ve seen the trend at work through user registration data, and this theme regularly appears in our quarterly analysis of the top search terms among medical professionals. SearchMedica’s quarterly Top Clinical Search Terms report consistently includes terms that represent a disease or condition, but few symptoms, drugs or procedures ever make the lists.”

SearchMedica simplifies the search for professional medical information. By default, SearchMedica indexes all of medicine and retrieves clinical information suitable for any practicing physician or healthcare professional. Specialists, however, can refine their search into one of eight therapeutic categories. These categories, based on the National Library of Medicine’s Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) include cardiovascular, diabetes/endocrine, infectious, musculoskeletal, cancer/hemic, pediatric, mental/nervous system and respiratory disorders. Early feedback from SearchMedica’s registered user base indicates the new interface is easier to use and more intuitive.

Even before its redesign, SearchMedica.com was recently acknowledged for its outstanding user experience as a recipient of a 2007 Standard of Excellence WebAward.

About SearchMedica.com

SearchMedica.com indexes only authoritative medical information, approved for inclusion by medical editors and a physician editorial board. Medical professionals receive more relevant, smaller sets of search results from SearchMedica.com than from mainstream engines, which contain consumer-oriented, paid testimonials and other types of unreliable information. Since SearchMedica.com is advertiser supported, medical professionals pay nothing to use the search engine. All SearchMedica search results are independent and unbiased. They contain well-known, credible journals, peer-reviewed research, and evidence-based articles written for practicing healthcare professionals. SearchMedica is currently available at www.SearchMedica.com.

SearchMedica to Enhance Web Searches on ModernMedicine.com

Tuesday, March 4th, 2008

Exclusive alliance will deliver quality, on-demand content for medical professionals

NEW YORK, March 4, 2008 – Healthcare professionals who use Advanstar’s ModernMedicine.com will experience enhanced Web search results as a result of a newly announced strategic partnership with SearchMedica.com, the medical professional’s search engine. ModernMedicine.com is an innovative, online clinical decision-support resource.

“SearchMedica is proud to supplement ModernMedicine.com in its effort to provide quality, credible healthcare information to medical professionals,” said Cyndy Finnie, senior product manager for SearchMedica. “SearchMedica is committed to connecting physicians and other healthcare professionals to these trusted resources, ultimately improving patient care.”
As part of this strategic partnership, SearchMedica.com will power ModernMedicine’s Web searches, driving reliable medical search results to the ModernMedicine.com search results page. In turn, ModernMedicine.com will offer users access to credible professional medical search results on SearchMedica.com.

“ModernMedicine.com provides healthcare professionals with instant answers to clinical and practice management questions from highly credible and trusted sources,” said David Hoo, vice president of marketing for Advanstar Life Sciences Marketing. “The partnership with SearchMedica enhances our content and features and fits with our new digital strategy to bring timely, high quality content to the medical community aggregated from strategic partners as well as our own brands.”

ModernMedicine provides healthcare professionals with access to a robust, cross-specialty library of content that is complemented by interactive tools and features. The beta version registered more than 25,000 users in 2007 with minimal promotion. As of February 29, 2008, registration had surpassed 50,000, and the site is now being further expanded with a goal of registering 150,000 users or more.

In addition to ranking search results according to relevance as many search engines do, SearchMedica also organizes results into such categories as practical articles and news, research reviews and editorials, evidence-based articles and meta-analyses, practice guidelines, clinical trials for patients, continuing medical education, and alternative or complementary medicine. This segmented organization makes it easier than ever for healthcare professionals to pinpoint the information they seek.

About SearchMedica.com:
SearchMedica.com indexes only authoritative medical information, approved for inclusion by medical editors and a physician editorial board. Medical professionals receive more relevant, smaller sets of search results from SearchMedica.com than from mainstream engines, which contain consumer-oriented, paid testimonials and other types of unreliable information. Since SearchMedica.com is advertiser supported, medical professionals pay nothing to use the specialty search engine. All SearchMedica search results are independent and unbiased. They contain well-known, credible journals, peer-reviewed research, and evidence-based articles written for practicing healthcare professionals. SearchMedica is currently available at www.SearchMedica.com.

About ModernMedicine.com:
ModernMedicine.com (www.modernmedicine.com) is an online service of Advanstar Communications Inc. (www.advanstar.com), a leading worldwide media company providing integrated marketing solutions for the Fashion, Life Sciences and Powersports industries. Advanstar serves business professionals and consumers in these industries with its portfolio of 47 events, 60 publications and directories, 95 electronic publications and Web sites, as well as educational and direct marketing products and services. Market leading brands and a commitment to delivering innovative, quality products and services enables Advanstar to “Connect Our Customers With Theirs.” Advanstar has approximately 1,000 employees and currently operates from multiple offices in North America and Europe.