Wednesday, August 01, 2007

Medical sites you don’t need an MD to read

Even though Michael Moore’s new documentary Sicko is quite dramatic, you don’t have to see the movie to know our country is in a bit of a health care crisis. What frustrates me is that we have amassed such an amazing body of medical knowledge that often goes unused.

So, the ultimate information distributor, the Internet, has attempted to catch up to disseminate some of this knowledge. But like taking an overdose of medicine, this overdose of wrong information often makes the situation worse. There is so much data, that sites try to give their users what they want, but did not ask for.

Time for a new breed of site.

As reported by Jeanette Borzo in The Wall Street Journal, the new sites approach the issue by getting back to basics. Through intelligent search tools, these sites give the customer exactly what they ask for - information. It is a great example of seeking innovation in simplicity. In her article, Ms. Borzo reviews six sites:

Healia.com




Medstory.com


Mammahealth.com





Healthline.com



Taumed.com



Kosmix.com






In some ways, this new medial website model is also a good example of our A2U® tool. It combines awareness (what does the site want their customers to be aware of), attitude (how do they want their customers to feel about that information) and usage (how is the information going to be used). All of this in a way that equals a communication of the medical knowledge that is needed - and most of all, can be applied for good health.

No comments: