Everything is going web 2.0 these days, so why not your health? When you think of major medical sites online, what comes to mind? WebMD is one of the more popular places to go, or maybe even MayoClinic.com or NIH.gov. Each of those sites contains a wealth of information, so wouldn’t it be nice if there was a place that you could go to do one search and get comprehensive health information from all of the top sources around the web? You can do that and more at a new health site called iMedix. It’s a fairly new Web 2.0 site that will help you find and share health information.
What is iMedix?
iMedix is a community powered health care search engine. Using special algorithms, it evaluates healthcare sites to generate results of “top sources.” This is perfect for when you or a family member would like more information about a disease, symptoms you may be experiencing, or any other health related issue. It has a social aspect to it as well which means that you can easily get connected with other people who share the same health interests. The goal of the team at iMedix is to empower people to make better health-related decisions.
Creating a Profile
To make the most of the site, you’ll want to create a profile. All it takes is an email address and you can sign up in just a few clicks. Your profile will contain information like which health topics are you interested in? As you type in the topics, a drop-down menu appears to guide your search (this same drop-down menu also appears any time you are doing a search on the site). This is the most important part of the profile because then you’ll be able to easily find other people who are interested in the same topics. You can also do the following:
- Add a picture or choose an avatar from their gallery
- Select a tagline like: “I’m interested in learning more” or “Happy to share my experience”
- Name, gender, birth date, country, state, and a blurb about yourself
You can add as much or as little information as you’d like in your profile, and an example profile can be seen below:
Social
It’s wouldn’t be “Web 2.0″ if it didn’t have a social aspect to it, and it sure does. The easiest way to get social on iMedix is to find and add friends who share common health interests. You can also send users messages to people, even if they’re not on your friend list. Additionally, there are other social aspects which include:
- View who’s online
- Rate content with a thumbs up or thumbs down
- View other user’s profiles
Each user receives an activity rank which is a total score of a user’s contribution to the iMedix community. The contribution is measured by voting, chatting, and updating your profile.
Searching for information
This is probably one of the most important aspects to the site, the information that it provides when you perform a search. In the search box at the top of the page, you can type in any key word that is medical related. This could be a disease, the name of a medication, or even a symptom. Once you start typing something, a drop down menu with different key words will appear to help guide your search which is extremely helpful.
After performing several searches on iMedix, I am impressed with the results that it provides. The results come from top notch sources, and of course you can see whether someone has ranked the link or not which helps you determine if it’s a good source or not.
Wrapping it up
I wouldn’t be surprised in the least if iMedix gets swept up and acquired by someone in the future. While it’s still fairly new, the results they provide and the social community they’ve created is great. Thousands upon thousands of people use the Internet to research their health these days, and iMedix could be the site where people turn to get all of the information that they are looking for.
Microsoft Healthvault is another good site that exists. I’m still waiting on Google Health though.
Medical and Social could have horrible implications – “see other friends with ‘Chalmydia’ or do a public search”
I won’t be trusting online sites in respect to health info.
Several reasons I will not use the site and have emailed iMedix:
1) Even though it is checked “remember me on this computer,” it is not remembered.
2) The logon window is a pop up that cannot be remembered by Firefox 2.0.0.11.
3) Nor can Firefox remember the password & email address even though I’ve clicked on a javascript button that forces FF to bypass autocomplete and it should remember the info.
4) Roboform cannot complete the popup logon window.
Therefore every sign in is manual.
Furtherfore:
1) In a search window clicking on a link does not open in a new tab, but directly over the same tab, hence cannot see the search results to open another link. Using Firefox 2.0.0.11 & TabMixPlus which should always open in a new tab.
2) Don’t care for making health issues a social event.
Hopefully Google Health will be able to live up to what people want. They will be coming into the game quite late, and I think they will have to do an exceptional job for that reason.
There is definitely some security worries there, but you obviously don’t have to use your real name or anything.