All About Searching the Medical Literature

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All About Searching the Medical Literature

• Karen Knight, M.S.L.S.
• kknight_at_virginia.edu
• Medical Education Librarian
• Claude Moore Health Sciences Library

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(No Transcript)
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Overview

• Three Databases of Primary Interest
• Evidence-Based Medicine Reviews
• MEDLINE
• Ovid
• PubMed
• Web of Science

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Evidence-Based Medicine Reviews (EBMR)

• Available from the Librarys Home page under
  Core Resources
  
• Searchable through the Ovid search interface
• Composed of 3 databases
• Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews
• Database of Reviews of Effects (DARE)
• ACP Journal Club

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Evidence-Based Medicine Reviews (EBMR)

• EBMR items are reviewed for clinical relevancy
  and scientific validity
  
• Searching these databases is beneficial because
  the results are a useful synthesized subset of
  the total literature
  
• Can be a time-saver if you find an answer saves
  you from having to go to MEDLINE

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Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews

• Cochrane Collaboration -International network of
  individuals institutions
  
• Review, analyze synthesize the best clinical
  trials available on a range of subjects
  
• Write systematic reviews
• Focus is on therapeutics

Systematic Review A summary of the medical
literature that uses explicit methods to perform
a thorough literature search
and critical appraisal of individual studies and
that uses appropriate statistical techniques to
combine these valid studies.
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Database of Reviews of Effects (DARE)

• Actually a part of the Cochrane Database
• Offers quality-assessed reviews in subjects where
  there is currently no Cochrane Review usually
  reviews of meta-analyses
  
• Prepared by the National Health Center for
  Reviews Dissemination University of York,
  England
  

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ACP Journal Club

• Selects methodologically sound clinically
  relevant articles from top journals
  
• Offers enhanced abstracts expert commentaries
• Major focus is in Internal Medicine, Family
  Practice, Pediatrics, Surgery, OB/GYN
  

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Search Hints

• You can search all 3 EBMR databases at the same
  time saves time
  
• These databases are full-text, so remember two
  things
  
• OR together synonyms
• Example warfarin or coumadin
• Truncate to get word ending variations ()
• Example Swim ? swimming, swims, swimmers, etc.

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Are corticosteroids beneficial in treating
infants with bronchiolitis?
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MEDLINE

• Produced by the National Library of Medicine
• Used to locate journal article citations
• Largest most popular international biomedical
  database contains over 9 million bibliographic
  journal article references
  
• Can be programmed to link to full-text if the
  Library has a subscription.

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Which Do I Use?

• National Library of Medicines database MEDLINE
  is available through several search interfaces
  
• Two most common search options are
• Ovids MEDLINE
• National Library of Medicines PubMed

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Compare Currency

• NLMs PubMed
• Citations are added daily

• Ovids MEDLINE
• Citations are added daily

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Compare Content

• Ovids MEDLINE
• Database can be searched in separate date range
  files or in one file (1966 to present).
  
• Citations in process are available in a separate
  file, called MEDLINE In-Process.
  
• A combined MEDLINE In-Process MEDLINE file is
  available.
  
• Old MEDLINE (1951-1965) is available as a
  separate file
  

• NLMs PubMed
• Includes in one file
• MEDLINE, citations in process, pre-1966
  citations, and non-MEDLINE citations from
  journals selectively indexed.

In-process records lack MeSH indexing in both
search systems
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Compare Availability

• Ovids MEDLINE
• Costs the Library pays a subscription fee
• May not be available in future employment

• NLMs PubMed
• Freely available worldwide

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Compare Search Mechanism

• Ovids MEDLINE
• Provides a more guided process for a precise
  search based on Medical Subject Headings (MeSH),
  subheadings, and limits.
  
• Maps query to Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) and
  presents appropriate headings from which to
  choose.
  
• User has control over which headings are used.
• User may also search by text word.

• NLMs PubMed
• Provides a single search box and automatically
  searches MeSH if there is a match and text words
  from the titles and abstracts
  
• User clicks on "Details" to see how PubMed
  translated the query.
  
• Users may use the separate "MeSH Browser" feature
  to be guided through selection of appropriate
  MeSH headings and subheadings.

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• Authors
• Kadhim, A l. Colreavy, M P. O'Donovan, C.
  Blayney, A.
  
• Title
• Bone anchored hearing aids reality, failure and
  current status
  
• Source
• Irish Medical Journal. 97(10)312-4, 2004
  Nov-Dec.
  
• Medical Subject Headings
• Equipment and Supplies / st StandardsHearing
  Aids / st StandardsHumansIrelandOutcome
  Assessment (Health Care)Quality of
  LifeQuestionnaires
• Abstract
• Bone Anchored Hearing Aids have both cosmetic and
  acoustic advantages over most conventional
  hearing aids and hence is a popular choice today.
  We report the first Irish group of patients who
  received a BAHA over a six year period of time
  and evaluated outcomes of these subjects using
  subjective assessment. The medical records of all
  patients who received a BAHA at the Mater and
  Children's University Hospital, Dublin, were
  reviewed. A questionnaire had been sent to the
  patients to obtain long-term subjective
  information. Twenty three patients were
  identified. The commonest indication for surgery
  was found to be the presence of a discharging
  mastoid cavity, followed by congenital ear
  malformations. Surgical procedures were carried
  out as a single stage in 16 patients. truncated
  
• Publication Type
• Journal Article

MEDLINE Record
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Compare Evidence-Based Medicine

• Ovids MEDLINE
• Offers Clinical Queries limit
• Offers Systematic reviews subject subset limit
• Offers limit to the full-text records in EBMR

• NLMs PubMed
• Offers "Clinical Queries" feature which filters
  studies on therapy, diagnosis, etiology, and
  prognosis for sensitivity or specificity.
  
• Search for systematic reviews

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Compare Linking to Full Text

• Ovid MEDLINE PubMed
• Both systems contain library holdings information
  regarding print and non-print availablity
  
• Both link to full-text journals
• Ovids MEDLINE can link to MORE full-text
  journals at this time through the Find_at_UVa
  feature than can PubMed

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Compare Ability to Link to Other Databases

• Ovids MEDLINE
• The same search interface is available for BIOSIS
  (life sciences), CINAHL (nursing and allied
  health), and Evidence Based Medicine Reviews
  (EBMR)
• Searches may be run again in different databases.
  
  
• Multiple files may be searched at one time.

• NLMs PubMed
• Integrated with other genetics information
  databases from NCBI, including BLAST, Entrez,
  GenBank, Molecular Modeling Database, and OMIM.
  
• Links to MEDLINEplus for consumer health
  information and NLM Gateway for books

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Compare Emailing Results

• Ovid MEDLINE
• Citations may be emailed to one or more people
  through use of the Results Manager.

PubMed Citations may be emailed to one address a
t a time through the "Send to" feature.
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Compare Saving Searches Automatic Updates

• Ovids MEDLINE
• User can save a search strategy for future use
• Searches can be saved as Auto Alerts that will
  email you new results whenever the database is
  updated

• NLMs PubMed
• Use My NCBI to
• Save searches
• Set up e-mail alerts for new content

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Compare Other Bonus Features

• Ovids MEDLINE
• New feature called Find Similar. Not ready for
  prime time not working well!
  
• Find Citation feature
• Ability to move citation directly into ILLiad

• NLMs PubMed
• Related Article. Feature works great
• Citation Matcher feature
• No ability to link with the ILLiad system

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Web of Science

• Once known as Science Citation Index
• Multidisciplinary in coverage
• Humanities
• Social Sciences
• Life Sciences
• Unique feature is cited reference searching

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Web of ScienceI want to locate articles about
complications from ALS or amyotrophic lateral
sclerosis in pregnancy
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For More Help with Searching Ovid MEDLINE, go to
MEDLINE The Magnificent 7 Search Steps PDF
http//www.healthsystem.virginia.edu/internet/li
brary/services/education/7steps.pdf
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For More Help with Searching PubMed, go to
Searching PubMed PDF http//www.healthsystem.vi
rginia.edu/internet/library/services/education/han
dout-PubMed.pdf
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For More Help with Searching PubMed, go to
Searching PubMed PDF http//www.healthsystem.vi
rginia.edu/internet/library/services/education/han
dout-PubMed.pdf
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For More Help with Searching Web of Science, go
to
Web of Science tutorial http//www.thomsonisi.com
/tutorials/wos7/