SearchMedica

SearchMedica.com, developed by doctors for doctors, provides a customized, free search engine that includes medical journals and other professional online resources

Philadelphia, November 13, 2006 – CMPMedica plc, a leading global provider of healthcare information and education, today unveiled SearchMedica.com, a free, Web-based service that connects physicians and other medical professionals to credible, medical Web sites and online journals through vertical or specialty-specific search engines.

“Physicians tell us the search engines available to them today cover too much of the Web, including information created by and for consumers, animal-based research and completely unreliable information,” said Cyndy Finnie, senior product manager for SearchMedica at CMPMedica. “We’ve combined the expertise of CMPMedica’s medical editors and its physician editorial boards, to ensure that our specialty search engines include results from credible, medical organizations, research results from human studies and other information physicians can use in their practices today”.

SearchMedica.com now offers vertical or topic-specific search engines for clinicians specializing in Psychiatry and Primary Care, including Family Practice. Throughout 2007, SearchMedica will unveil new vertical search engines for additional specialties, including Oncology.

Anyone can use SearchMedica, but healthcare professionals are encouraged to register to receive updates about new content and tips on how to use various advanced tools within SearchMedica. SearchMedica results contain well-known, credible journals, peer-reviewed research, and evidence-based articles written for practicing healthcare professionals. All SearchMedica search results are independent, unbiased and ranked according to relevance. In developing SearchMedica Psychiatry, CMPMedica followed guidance from Psychiatric Times’ editorial board, journal editors and practicing physicians. SearchMedica teamed with editors from Consultant magazine in the development of SearchMedica Primary Care. In each of the SearchMedica vertical search engines, clinicians receive a specialist’s view of the Web and an easy to use interface.

“We talked to many physicians while developing each of the specialty search engines,” added Finnie. “Consulting with the editorial boards of these leading publications was important, but we didn’t stop there. We went beyond that, conducted focus groups, collected input from physicians and leveraged that input to improve the tools each step of the way, making them as useful as possible for practicing healthcare professionals.”
In addition to ranking search results according to relevance as most 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-complementary medicine. This segmented organization makes it easier than ever for healthcare professionals to pinpoint the information they seek. Practical articles, research reviews, evidence-based medicine and practice guidelines focus results specifically on documents that address a physician’s unanswered clinical questions. Clinical trials and alternative and complementary medicine provide useful information for patient encounters, as do patient education materials, which will be incorporated in the future. Continuing medical education offers information about course work and online continuing medical education opportunities to help clinicians pursue opportunities for lifelong learning and stay up to date in certification.

About CMPMedica
CMPMedica, a division of United Business Media plc, provides healthcare information and education to primary care physicians, specialists, pharmacist and patients around the world. Providing journals, magazines, directories, drug databases, other electronic databases, Web sites, face-to-face meetings and other valuable resources, CMPMedica also delivers comprehensive communication solutions for the pharmaceutical and related industries. Employing more than 1,400 people with offices in 29 countries, CMPMedica is headquartered in London. For more information, visit CMPMedica.com.