  This report provides an overview of the field of Information Retrieval (IR)
in healthcare. It does not aim to introduce general concepts and theories of IR
but to present and describe specific aspects of Health Information Retrieval
(HIR). After a brief introduction to the more broader field of IR, the
significance of HIR at current times is discussed. Specific characteristics of
Health Information, its classification and the main existing representations
for health concepts are described together with the main products and services
in the area (e.g.: databases of health bibliographic content, health specific
search engines and others). Recent research work is discussed and the most
active researchers, projects and research groups are also presented. Main
organizations and journals are also identified.
