Medical Information Retrieval Strategies: An Exploratory Study on the Information Retrieval Behaviors of Non-Medical Professionals

Medical search engines are frequently used not only by people in the medical fraternity but also amongst non-medical professionals. It is likely that non-medical professionals and first time medical searches may find the activity of searching for medical information to be an overwhelming experience. The use of appropriate terminology is essential for a successful search. Similarly, the ability to comprehend presented search results is equally important. In this paper, the authors review information retrieval techniques used in medical search engines. The authors focus on their strategies and comment on their suitability. The authors then conducted an exploratory survey to provide real-life examples of how non-medical professionals perform medical based searches. Results of the study provide insight to the medical search behavior of non-medical professionals. Based on the study results the authors mapped search behavior of non-medical professionals against information retrieval strategies to determine how these strategies help improve a search session. Finally, the authors conclude the paper by providing innovate ideas for the development of better information retrieval strategies on medical search engines.