Integrating the Internet into Your Clinical Practice
http://www.fpen.org/allina
May 8, 1998

Search engines, which are each unique web sites that contain a searchable database of web pages, are another way to locate information. You are not searching the entire web when you search a search engine. Instead, you are searching that search engine's database of web sites. All search engines are not created equal, they operate differently, and they contain unique databases of unequal size and currency. The best strategy is to get familiar with a few, and try your searches with more than one.

Most search engines have both basic and advanced search modes. You will probably be able to further refine and qualify your search request if you use the advanced mode. To help you get the most out of a particular search engine, you should check out the Help link that is usually available from the search engine home page. Try some searches in a couple different search engines, using both the basic and advanced search modes.

A physician would like to find some information on the LASIK procedure (laser-assisted eye surgery) to give to a patient who is considering this procedure.

1. Connect to the AltaVista search engine by clicking on the web address: http://www.altavista.digital.com.
2. You are now in the Basic Search Option. Click in the white rectangular search form.
3. Type (in all caps): LASIK
   
4. Click on Search
5. Scroll down and look at some of the hits you retrieved. Record the number of hits here __________.
6. Now conduct an Advanced Search in AltaVista by clicking on the Advanced Search link below the Refine link. Look for your topic in non-profit web sites only by typing: LASIK AND domain:org
7. Note the differences in retrieval when you further qualified your request.

HotBot: Basic and Super Search Modes

1. Connect to the HotBot search engine by clicking on the web address:

http://www.hotbot.com

2. Repeat the above search. Note that you can select the  North American non-profit domain (.org) directly from the default basic search page. Record the number of hits here _________.
3. Note the differences in retrieval between the AltaVista and HotBot search engines.
4. Now try a Super Search in HotBot. Look for the Super Search link on the HotBot home page.
5. Type LASIK in the search form and qualify it in two ways: limit to non-profit domains in North America (you already did this in the previous HotBot exercise) and add an additional phrase "patient education" and select the Must Contain and Exact Phrase options.
6. Note the reduction in retrieval. You may or may not find that using these advanced features help you retrieve relevant hits. More and more of the search engines seem to be making their basic search modes capable of interpreting complex questions, including natural language.

You are looking for the e-mail address of a Maryland internist who works at the National Institutes of Health and whom you met at a recent conference. You remember his name, Richard Spencer, and you know he is in Baltimore, but you can’t find the napkin on which you wrote his e-mail.

1. Connect to HotBot by clicking on the web address: http://www.hotbot.com (or use your back button to get to the HotBot home page)
2. Select the E-mail Directory link and type in the information you have in the appropriate boxes.

You want to find out some general information about the new HCFA documentation guidelines.

1. Connect to AltaVista.
2. Conduct a Basic Search. Click in the Search Form. Type (including quotations marks) "HCFA documentation guidelines"
3. Review some of your hits.

There are many web sites that are offering Continuing Medical Education credits. Some involve interactive tutorials, and charge a fee; while others are free-of-charge and involve reading articles and/or viewing images and responding to a quiz. Try one of the free CME modules offerred by NIH's Consensus Development Program:

http://text.nlm.nih.gov/nih/upload-v3/Continuing_Education/cme.html

For additional practice, try some searches in these search engines and/or directories: