Healia - health search engine

I get to see a lot of search engines that have just been released and usually they're fairly basic, but every now and then I come across one that is really impressive. That's the case with Healia - health search engine. It's got a very clear interface (think Google and you're there), and when you've run a search you're rewarded with a dazzling array of information. Firstly you get offered similar searches, more general and more specific, with various suggestions. Interesting to see that this is at the top of the results, where you might expect to get the sponsored links (they're over at the side). We then get straight into the results, with title, key word in context summary, more from this site, and a link to the cached version. On some results we're also offered an 'Attributes' function, that details things such as 'advanced reading', 'privacy policy' or 'fast loading'.

Down the left hand side there are a number of filters, allowing you to filter the content, and a few of these I've never seen before. There are filters for/about Professionals, Male, Female, Kids, Teens, Seniors, African/Asian/Hispanic/Native heritage, basic/advanced reading, easy to scan, fast loading, for text browsers and interactive tools. There is also a search history for the last 10 searches that have been run.

But wait, there's more. Running a search for a specific drug pops up a little information box (think quick answers and you've got the concept) with more data. I tried 'aspirin' and was given information on what it might also be known as, data from MedlinePlus, an image link from Drug Digest, and a quick overview. Within the results I was given tabbed options for 'All', 'Dosage', 'Uses', and 'Side effects'.  There's also a useful 'help' option as well - something far too many search engines are ignoring these days, and the option of choosing from 3 different font sizes.

Healia was created over a 4 year period under an award from the National Cancer Institute, and while this is obviously a good thing it does allow me to mention my only real criticism of the engine which is the strong US bias to it (as you might already have got from one or two of the filters) and this is a real shame. I'd like to see another set of filters for Geographic content for example, but perhaps I'm just being really greedy with it at this point.

All told, this is a really splendid search engine, with a great deal to recommend it and lots of fascinating functionality that makes it worth exploration if you're a health professional, and even more if you're not! Oh yes, and you can also add their search box onto your site as well, so give it a spin.

Comments

[The Healia Team]

Phil - We appreciate your generous review. We wanted to let your readers know that many health librarians were involved in developing Healia over the years and that we owe them our thanks for their valuable contributions. We welcome additional feedback from your readers.

The Healia Team