Searching French institutional health information sources: catalogue and index of French-language medical sites (CISMeF)

The Catalogue and index of French-language medical sites (CISMeF) is a medical portal that provides users with results as pertinent as possible according to their requirements, expectations, and context of use. Indexing and single-term research are based on theMedical subject headings(MeSH) thesaurus. The integration of new medical terminology for indexing the catalogue's resources is intended to minimize false-negatives during searches and to contextualize the users' needs. The creation of a drug information portal makes more targeted research possible, with numerous entries according to user (physicians, pharmacists, chemists, and pharmacologists). For simplicity's sake, the catalogue's index of resources by different nomenclatures is not entirely displayed. The choice of display is left to the user, with MeSH only as the default. These multi-nomenclature tools should be applicable as well to electronic patient records. In this case, the objective is to improve patient care by better searches and identification of the information required during consultations and hospitalization.