Two Innovative Online Companies Improve Access To Information For Medical Professionals

Main Category: Primary Care / General Practice
Also Included In: IT / Internet / E-mail
Article Date: 22 Jul 2007 - 1:00 PDT

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SearchMedica and GPnotebook are joining forces to offer GPs a powerful integrated search and reference tool online.

SearchMedica, the medical search engine, now provides results from GPnotebook, the online medical encyclopedia, alongside its regular results. And GPnotebook provides search results from SearchMedica alongside its own material for doctors.

The two sites offer complementary approaches to web-based information for GPs. GPnotebook provides concise, practical, searchable synopses of the entire field of clinical medicine, constantly updated by a team of authors while SearchMedica gives speedy access to a hand-picked selection of authoritative medical websites as well as the medical world-wide-web, filtering out all unwanted non-medical results and offering a wide clinical perspective.

Lisa Taylor, Director of SearchMedica UK, comments, "SearchMedica's primary aim is to save GPs and other healthcare professionals time by providing the right medical information when they need it, for example during patient consultations. GPs are using SearchMedica to get access to medical information throughout the day and searching for a wide range of information to help keep them up-to-date. The new GPnotebook results category gives GPs even easier access to the information they trust as well as access to other well used and respected medical web sites. The GPnotebook section is the latest edition to a number of existing categories including drug and patient information that are designed to make searching for medical information quick and simple."

Dr Jim McMorran from GPnotebook, comments, "At GPnotebook we aim to provide the UK clinical community with a concise summary of the essential information that a busy doctor needs. We have over 30,000 pages of text covering the whole breadth of medicine but we know that we cannot hope to cover all the details. Our partnership with SearchMedica allows our clients to gain convenient access to other resources that are available on well respected websites. Now when you browse GPnotebook, thanks to SearchMedica, you really are at the hub of the medical internet."

About Searchmedica.co.uk

Searchmedica.co.uk is a specialist search engine for GPs and medical professionals, designed to provide relevant information and insight on a range of medical issues - from clinical, drug and research data to the latest NICE, PCT or Department of Health guidelines.

Searchmedica.co.uk is about providing the medical community with relevant information that will save time and ultimately enable GPs to focus on their patients and the provision of healthcare services.

Developed by GPs, for GPs, Searchmedica.co.uk understands medical search terms and searches both the Internet and pre-approved medical sites vetted and chosen by GPs to provide relevant, authoritative and reliable responses, which are categorised into several key categories, including patient or clinical information, patient support, guidelines and reference documentation.

According to recent research, over 86% of the UK's GPs currently use the Internet, including search engine technology, for business purposes, yet nearly half are regularly disappointed with the relevance of the responses received from horizontal searches. However, when using Searchmedica.co.uk, over three quarters of GPs surveyed claim benefits that include saved time and 99% are satisfied with the quality and relevance of results.

Searchmedica.co.uk is run by CMPMedica, part of United Business Media, and has been set up using search engine technology from Convera, combined with industry expertise from Pulse, the GPs' best-read weekly paper, and major input from growing numbers of GPs daily.

For more information on Searchmedica.co.uk or CMPMedica, please visit www.searchmedica.co.uk or www.cmpmedica.com

About Gpnotebook

GPnotebook is a concise synopsis of the entire field of clinical medicine focused on the needs of the General Practitioner. The database is continually being updated by a team of authors. A pragmatic approach is taken to authoring: topical issues, journals and user feedback.

A range of knowledge sources are used, including clinical experience, knowledge taken from literature reviews, original research articles and guidelines published by national and international bodies. Feedback from experts in primary care and the various clinical specialties ensure accuracy, while editorial decisions are based on merit and are not influenced by any funding bodies.

For more information on GPnotebook, please visit www.gpnotebook.co.uk