Medical librarians and librarians in general can be hard sells for health-related search tools. But it is a simple fact that not every community has a medical library and not every consumer knows about PubMed or MedlinePlus. And some communities lack access to online public library resources and it is hard for the disabled to make it over to their local public library. That is where search tools like Healia come in.

I liked it. I work in a medical library. Therefore, it is somewhat embarrassing, indeed it is mortifying, to confess that I do learn from commercial search products. I learned some useful things from Healia.

For example, I tried my out usual search term, “amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.” I was presented with a series of useful filters from which to choose including: Basic Reading and Advanced Reading (elementary and secondary health teachers might find that feature useful when drawing up class presentations—so might public health workers who work with people for whom English is a second language) and a Text Browser option (great for those with visual or other impairments). There was a filter labeled, URAC Accredited and I am grateful to Healia for prodding me to learn what that is:

http://www.urac.org

One quite interesting feature of Healia comes under the search results when you search for clinical trials being conducted for a certain condition. I wondered if any of the trials underway involving ALS were taking place in the nearest large city to my quite small one. I was most interested in the study, Noninvasive Examination of the Work of Breathing in Patients With Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) and thanks to Healia’s, “Map all sites in this trial,” feature I was able to immediately determine that the only trial site at this point is in Philadelphia. This feature could be a major boon for researchers hoping to recruit patients for trials and for patients and their loved ones hoping to find a nearby trial in which to enroll or simply to learn where research on their illness is being conducted, the better to keep tabs on the results for trials as the preliminary results dribble in. You can also employ filters for what phase the trial is in. For instance, if I had ALS, I probably would be most interested in results limited to Phase IV, as those would be the kind of results that would have the most immediate impact on my quality of life.

The phase of study filter tool would be a good teaching tool for nurse educators or public health community college instructors trying to explain to students the difference, say, between a Phase 1 and a Phase III trial. Real-world examples are always more compelling and edifying than hypothetical constructs.

Healia isn’t perfect. It could use more choices in terms of format. I am always on the prowl for PDFs, for instance, and soon people will expect many more Web 2.0 bells and whistles—links to podcasts, YouTube and results from Scribd

Indeed, Healia faces the dilemma of being a quite sophisticated tool for the educated consumer but not something that hardcore researchers or librarians would turn to. It has advertising, but it is low key and not as pushy, pushy, pushy as that of Revolution Health.

Like MedHelp and Wellsphere, Healia has an elaborate infrastructure set up for an extensive array of patient communities. But like them, it seems to be experiencing somewhat of a participant dearth. It may that the expectations among these companies that there is a huge pent up demand for interactions between those with any sort of illness that is bound to result in flourishing, online patient communities to which to sell products and services (or, in the case of Patients Like Me, to sell data extracted from members of the community) is unrealistic.

The real winners in the online patient sweepstakes may turn out to be only sites catering to those with conditions (such as ALS or like neuromuscular conditions) that often confine them to their homes and render communication difficult save through assistive combination devices (like computer keyboards). Cancer victims may simply prefer to go out for walks and try thereby not to think about their illness. We shall see. The ALS patient community at Patients Like Me is a lively forum. But that’s partially because there is a sense of urgency for communication for those with that illness. At Patients Like Me they can get ready answers from their many compatriots there (and from a trusted nurse) on quality of life questions and as well as frequent updates on the latest research in their mutually rapidly progressing illness. These motivating factors don’t come into play with every disease state and I am beginning to wonder if we are reaching the saturation level of online patient communities for minor conditions.

But Healia’s foray into the online patient world is as elegant in appearance as any and is run by a capable management team with solid backgrounds in health affairs (though MedHelp surpasses Healia in rendering it easy to determine who the touted health experts are and MedHelp seems to have a much larger and more impressive roster on that front—I had trouble finding such info on Healia). But Healia’s online communities are still in beta, so there is room for growth.

Healia may well gain traction with those who prefer a more sedate community tone to the occasionally raunchy one that can surface on Patients Like Me. It does take time to build up communities and each takes on its own character. I suggest that those who are interested in certain conditions try out Healia. It can be fun and worthwhile to be a shaper of new communities like these and participate in their development from the start.

Advertising beats subscription-based in my book any day and more power to Healia for doing what it can to provide its services to as wide an audience as possible instead of to only a privileged, fee-paying elite.

All in all, Healia is a well run, thoughtfully engineered tool for consumers and educators.