Virtual Medical Centre
Encyclopedia
Virtual Medical Centre is a provider of health information, education and services for consumers and health professionals via the internet. The company was founded in 2001 as Virtual Cancer Centre. In 2003 it changed its name to Virtual Medical Centre as its focus broadened to include information on all disease and lifestyle areas.
There are 22 categories of medical information including dedicated sections for women, men and children which group together relevant medical information such as allergy, cancer, blood, cancer, cardiac, pain, skin and weight loss.
To ensure accuracy and quality, all information on the website is reviewed by the Editorial Advisory Board – which consists of 15 Medical Directors and a volunteer team of more than 1,100 physicians, spread over the 22 specialty areas. The EAB contribute educational content and feedback on the information in their area of expertise prior to publication of content.
In addition, Virtual Medical Centre operates other health-related educational sites:
Virtual Medical Centre is financed by industry sponsorships, banner advertising and fees for online educational modules.
Specialist Dr Andrew Dean, after he realised that his patients were frequently turning to the internet for further information about their disease. He became concerned when his patients began bringing him information to discuss that had been printed from dubious medical websites, as the information was often inaccurate, misleading, used scare tactics or promised expensive, unproven miracle cures.
As a result, in 2001 Dr Dean created an intranet
site with accurate, evidence-based health information about cancer for his patients, and was almost immediately contacted by several other hospitals requesting access for their patients too. He realised that the cancer resource would benefit many more people if he made it available to everyone via the World Wide Web. In August 2001 www.virtualcancercentre.com went live. It received 20,000 hits in the first month. The Virtual Cancer Centre website grew in popularity due to its useful information and Editorial Advisory Board model, which allowed participating specialists control over the website and its information.
Physicians from other medical areas began asking for an equivalent information resource in their areas of expertise and this extended the website’s coverage to include information on non-cancer illnesses. The broadened focus resulted in Virtual Cancer Centre adding virtualmedicalcentre.com in November 2003. The company name was changed to Virtual Medical Centre Pty Ltd on July 23, 2007. There are currently 22 disease areas providing free health information to health professionals and the general public.
In 2004 Virtual Medical Centre was announced a finalist in Austrade’s Secrets of Australian IT Innovation Awards for My Quest, an online medical records system. Virtual Medical Centre also won the Prime Minister's Award for Excellence in Community Business Partnerships for Western Australia, 2004.
In 2008, Virtual Medical Centre was selected for archiving by the National Library of Australia's online catalogue, as a recognised accurate medical information resource. and was announced the 2008 WAITTA Awards Winner for the online category.
In January 2009 Virtual Medical Centre was announced the Winner in the 18th WAITTA Awards - online category for 2008. The WAITTA awards recognise outstanding performance and contributions by members of the IT and technology community in Western Australia.
In December 2008 Virtual Medical Centre announced a partnership with Australia’s largest ISP, Telstra Bigpond, forming “BigPond Health”. In the first month of the partnership, “BigPond Health” topped the Nielsen NetView charts in the Health, Fitness and Nutrition category to rank as the “number one health site in the country”.
Virtual Medical Centre was announced the leading health portal in Australia in 2009 by Hitwise
.
On May 27, 2010 Virtual Medical Centre participated in a reverse acquisition by Cliff Rock Resources Corp.
Services
Virtual Medical Centre is a public internet site which has more than 42,000 pages of accurate healthcare information including the latest health news, symptoms, diseases, treatments, drugs, lifestyle and nutrition information, anatomy/physiology, 3D medical animations educational videos, a medical dictionary, interactive tools, supportive care, health newsletters and RSS feeds.There are 22 categories of medical information including dedicated sections for women, men and children which group together relevant medical information such as allergy, cancer, blood, cancer, cardiac, pain, skin and weight loss.
To ensure accuracy and quality, all information on the website is reviewed by the Editorial Advisory Board – which consists of 15 Medical Directors and a volunteer team of more than 1,100 physicians, spread over the 22 specialty areas. The EAB contribute educational content and feedback on the information in their area of expertise prior to publication of content.
In addition, Virtual Medical Centre operates other health-related educational sites:
- Continuing Medical Education (CME): An endorsed provider of Continuing Medical Education by the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners.
- Visum: A forum for Australian specialists and GPs only.
Virtual Medical Centre is financed by industry sponsorships, banner advertising and fees for online educational modules.
History
Virtual Medical Centre was founded in 2001 as ‘Virtual Cancer Centre’ by Australian Oncologist and Senior Palliative CarePalliative care
Palliative care is a specialized area of healthcare that focuses on relieving and preventing the suffering of patients...
Specialist Dr Andrew Dean, after he realised that his patients were frequently turning to the internet for further information about their disease. He became concerned when his patients began bringing him information to discuss that had been printed from dubious medical websites, as the information was often inaccurate, misleading, used scare tactics or promised expensive, unproven miracle cures.
As a result, in 2001 Dr Dean created an intranet
Intranet
An intranet is a computer network that uses Internet Protocol technology to securely share any part of an organization's information or network operating system within that organization. The term is used in contrast to internet, a network between organizations, and instead refers to a network...
site with accurate, evidence-based health information about cancer for his patients, and was almost immediately contacted by several other hospitals requesting access for their patients too. He realised that the cancer resource would benefit many more people if he made it available to everyone via the World Wide Web. In August 2001 www.virtualcancercentre.com went live. It received 20,000 hits in the first month. The Virtual Cancer Centre website grew in popularity due to its useful information and Editorial Advisory Board model, which allowed participating specialists control over the website and its information.
Physicians from other medical areas began asking for an equivalent information resource in their areas of expertise and this extended the website’s coverage to include information on non-cancer illnesses. The broadened focus resulted in Virtual Cancer Centre adding virtualmedicalcentre.com in November 2003. The company name was changed to Virtual Medical Centre Pty Ltd on July 23, 2007. There are currently 22 disease areas providing free health information to health professionals and the general public.
In 2004 Virtual Medical Centre was announced a finalist in Austrade’s Secrets of Australian IT Innovation Awards for My Quest, an online medical records system. Virtual Medical Centre also won the Prime Minister's Award for Excellence in Community Business Partnerships for Western Australia, 2004.
In 2008, Virtual Medical Centre was selected for archiving by the National Library of Australia's online catalogue, as a recognised accurate medical information resource. and was announced the 2008 WAITTA Awards Winner for the online category.
In January 2009 Virtual Medical Centre was announced the Winner in the 18th WAITTA Awards - online category for 2008. The WAITTA awards recognise outstanding performance and contributions by members of the IT and technology community in Western Australia.
In December 2008 Virtual Medical Centre announced a partnership with Australia’s largest ISP, Telstra Bigpond, forming “BigPond Health”. In the first month of the partnership, “BigPond Health” topped the Nielsen NetView charts in the Health, Fitness and Nutrition category to rank as the “number one health site in the country”.
Virtual Medical Centre was announced the leading health portal in Australia in 2009 by Hitwise
Hitwise
Experian Hitwise is a global online competitive intelligence service which collects data directly from ISP networks to aid website managers in analysing trends in visitor behavior and to measure website market share. The Hitwise product is a commercial platform whereby customers pay Hitwise a...
.
On May 27, 2010 Virtual Medical Centre participated in a reverse acquisition by Cliff Rock Resources Corp.
External links
- Virtual Medical Centre (consumer website)
- Visum (Australian doctor website)
- Continuing Medical Education (CME for health professionals)