Department of Public Health

L.A. County Public Health with Included Trusted Sites

This Search engine includes all documents from sites we consider to contain trustworthy health information information.

EXAMPLE OF SOME TRUSTED SITES
Centers for Disease Control
National Institutes of Health
World Health Organization
Government Pandemic Flu
US Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS)
California Department of Public Health
National Cancer Institute
Arthritis Foundation
Alzheimer's Association
American Heart Association
US Census Bureau
Pan American Health Organization
Environmental Protection Agency
Medscape
USC School of Medicine
UCLA School of Medicine
UCLA School of Public Health
Department of Health and Human Services Healthfinder
American Academy of Family Physicians
DHHS Portal for Multi-Agency Health Initiatives
National Association for Public Health Statistics and Information Systems
American Public Health Association
American Medical Association
Healthy People 2010
Infectious Disease Society of America
US Department of Agriculture
Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists
Government Food Safety Information
Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry
etc.

If you have any comments or questions regarding this search engine please let us know.
Thank you
phwebinformatics@ph.lacounty.gov

REFINEMENTS

Recently Google added ‘refinements” on their global search result pages for many disease search terms. For example, when typing in the word ‘measles’ in www.google.com a series of 8 refinements appear at the top of the Results page to help users further narrow down their search. The standard 8 refinements Google uses are also the first 8 refinements of the L.A. Department of Public Health's (DPH) search engine. In addition, the Department has added another 8 refinements to better represent the field of Public Health. Each refinement adds additional search terms to the search query.

First 8 Standard Refinements and the additional search terms DPH has associated with it;
1. Treatment
- treatment, patients, medication, diagnosis, cure, remedy, prescription, therapy
2. Symptoms
- symptoms, syndrome, diagnosis, fever, muscle aches, sign, condition, conditions, sore
3. Tests/diagnosis
- tests, diagnostics, diagnosis, laboratory, exam, examination
4. Causes/risk factors
- cause, causes, risk factors, factors, etiology, causation, source
5. For patients
- patient, patients, treatment, treatments, diagnosis, symptoms, cure
6. For health professionals
- health professionals, provider, physicians, doctors, nurses, nurse, veterinarians, epidemiologists, practitioner
7. From medical authorities
- updates, press, release, briefs, studies, study, report
8. Alternate medicine
- alternative medicine, remedies, acupuncture, herbal, homeopathy, holistic, medicine

Eight additional Refinements used by DPH with the terms DPH has associated with it
9. Support groups
- support groups, support, assistance, self-help, foundation, health resources
10. Resources/clinics
- resources, clinic, clinics, health center, comprehensive center, hospital, services
11. News/alerts
- news, alerts, advisories, announcement, announcements, warning, bulletin
12. Disasters/emergency
- emergency, emergencies, disaster, disasters, bioterrorism, earthquake, preparedness, hazard, destruction, catastrophe
13. Ratings/records
- restaurants, beaches, facilities, ratings, birth, death, certificate, vital, permits, registrar
14. Reporting
- report, reports, CMR, case, investigation, complaints, feedback, morbidity
15. Data/statistics
- studies, study, report, research, data, statistics, summaries, assessment
16. Health education
- prevention, health education, health promotion, health information, training