TULSA, OK--(Marketwire - February 6, 2008) - OmniMedicalSearch.com today announced it has released a health and medical forum search engine designed to connect patients and caregivers with others who want to share and discuss personal experiences.

"When facing a health crisis, patients and caregivers often look to others for support and encouragement. They want to connect with people under similar circumstances and become part of a community that advances each other's goals, and prevents mistakes," said OmniMedicalSearch founder, Jason Morrow.

"Today's online message boards, chat rooms and forums, those online-communities, are an excellent way for people to connect. OmniMedicalSearch wanted to better serve the online communities by offering a directory and search option which encompasses more than 120 different online forums."

The health and medical forum search engine was developed with aid of Google Custom Search. "This powerful search tool allows users to search more than one forum at a time. Now, they can search over 120 different general and specific health forums at once," Morrow said. Along with the new search tool, OmniMedicalSearch added a forum directory that allows users to find specific forums by topic.

"Whether it's the directory or forum search engine, we want to be part of that bridge between our users and online communities where they can share information and personal stories," Morrow added.

According to a recent study of health-related internet searches, the UK's Economic and Social Research Council showed that people favor websites with personal stories.

"Even if a site makes a favourable first impression, it is unlikely to keep our attention if there are no personal stories that we can relate to. People are looking for advice from like-minded people...," Professor Pamela Briggs wrote. "The great strength of the internet is that you can find people who have had the same problem that you have and see how they have coped with it -- to forget about that, or to act as if it's not happening, is missing the point." (1)

The study warned that searchers should be wary of personal stories that reinforce negative behaviours, and seemingly independent websites that are actually a promotion vehicle of a drug company.

OmniMedicalSearch.com was founded in 2004 and centered on the premise of providing authoritative search results from reliable health and medical resources. It has since grown from a medical metasearch engine into a full search engine made possible through partnerships with Healthline.com, Google Custom Search, and their own search enhancement technology. OmniMedicalSearch offers six major search options which include: Medical Web, Health News, Images, MedPro (medical professional level resources), health and medical Shopping Search, and now, a health and medical Forum Search Engine. OmniMedicalSearch also offers a local directory for clinics and doctors, as well as a reference desk of hard-to-find medical resources.

(1) http://www.esrc.ac.uk/ESRCInfoCentre/PO/releases/2007/march/health.aspx?ComponentId=18643&SourcePageId=17700