Public Health Knowledge Base

1
Public Health Knowledge Base

• Public Health Literature Searching
• Kristine Alpi, MLS, AHIP
• Weill Cornell Medical Library
• MPH Program, Community Health Education
• Hunter College, City University of New York

2
Overview

• Key Databases
• Key Subject Areas
• Case Study Exercise

3
Whats Special about Public Health Literature?

• Variety of Resources
• Grey literature and reports
• Programmatic funding and publication
• International source literature
• Multilingual source literature
• Variety of subject areas
• Administration and policy
• Basic lab science
• Clinical medicine
• Toxicology
• Social science

4
Key Databases for Public Health Searching

• CINAHL Public Health Nursing, Health Education,
  Nutrition, Laboratory Practice
  
• HAPI Health and Psychosocial Instruments
• POPLINE Family planning, population law and
  policy, maternal/child health
  
• TOXLINE, EMIC, and DART/ETIC Environmental
  health sciences
  
• PubMed MEDLINE and HealthSTAR

5
PubMed

• Freely accessible on the Web through the National
  Library of Medicine
  
• http//www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi
• Phrase indexing versus word indexing
• Coverage of Public Health Literature disciplines
• MeSH Coverage (Changes Suggested)
• Journal Coverage (Core PH Journal List)

6
PubMedNew Publication Types

• Evaluation Studies
• Studies determining the effectiveness or utility
  of processes, personnel equipment.
  
• Validation Studies
• The processes by which the reliability and
  relevance of a procedure for a specific purpose
  are established.

7
PubMedCoverage of PH Programs

• Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System
• Healthy People
• Organizations (1968)
• United States Indian Health Service (MeSH - 1992)

8
PubMedMedical Subject Headings Key Terms

• Environment and Public Health (1998)
• Public Health (Branch of Medicine)
• Public Health Practice (1998)
• Health (Occupational, Public, Rural, Urban,
  World)
  
• Population Characteristics (1998)
• Preventive Medicine

9
PubMedMedical Subject Headings Subheadings

• Economics
• Epidemiology
• Instrumentation
• Legislation Jurisprudence
• Methods

• Organization Administration
• Standards
• Statistics Numerical Data
• Utilization

10
Key Subject Areas in Public Health

• Health Services Administration
• Biostatistics
• Epidemiology
• Behavioral Sciences/Health Education
• Environmental Health Sciences
• Occupational Safety Health
• Maternal and Child Health

• Public Health Practice Program Management
• Public Health Nutrition
• Biomedical Laboratory Practice
• Public Health Dentistry
• International/Global Health
• Public Health Nursing
• Public Health Informatics

11
Health Services Administration

• Journal Coverage
• MeSH
• Health Services Administration (1998)
• Public Health Administration
• Management of public health organizations or
  agencies.
  

12
Biostatistics

• Journal Coverage
• MeSH Biostatistics maps to Biometry
• Use of statistical methods to analyze biological
  observations and phenomena.
  
• Epidemiologic Measurements
• Statistical calculations on the occurrence of
  conditions in defined populations.

13
Epidemiology

• Journal Coverage
• MeSH
• Epidemiology (Field of Medicine)
• Epidemiology (Subheading)
• Epidemiologic Factors
• Epidemiologic Methods

14
Behavioral Sciences/Health Education

• Journal Coverage
• MeSH
• Health Education
• Behavioral Sciences
• Health Behavior (1989)
• Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice (1990)

15
Environmental Health Sciences

• Journal Coverage
• MeSH
• Environment
• Environment Health
• Environmental Pollution
• Environmental Illness
• Noxae
• Pesticides

16
Occupational Safety Health

• Journal Coverage
• MeSH Occupational Health (1991)
• Accidents, Occupational (1979)
• Human Engineering
• Occupational Diseases
• Occupational Exposure

17
Maternal and Child Health

• Journal Coverage
• MeSH
• Maternal Health Services (1968)
• Child Health Services (1968)
• Child Nutrition (1967)
• Neonatal Screening (1990)
• Maternal Welfare

18
Public Health Practice Program Management

• Journal Coverage
• MeSH Public Health Practice (1998)
• Previous Indexing
• Public Health (1966-1997)
• Public Health Administration (1968-1997)
• Public Health Administration

19
Public Health Nutrition

• Journal Coverage
• MeSH
• Nutrition
• Food Services
• Food and Beverages
• Feeding Methods (1998)

20
Biomedical Laboratory Practice

• Journal Coverage
• MeSH
• Laboratory Techniques and Procedures
• Instrumentation Methods (Subheadings)

21
Public Health Dentistry

• Journal Coverage
• MeSH
• Public Health Dentistry
• Community Dentistry (1991)
• Fluoridation (1965)

22
International/Global Health

• Journal Coverage
• MeSH
• World Health (1978)
• Population Characteristics (1998)
• International Cooperation
• Geographical Locations Category Tree

23
Public Health Nursing

• Journal Coverage
• MeSH
• Public Health Nursing
• Community Health Nursing (1977)
• Associated with Visiting Nurse
• Home Care Services (1967)

24
Public Health Informatics

• Computerized Surveillance Systems / Electronic
  Laboratory-Based Reporting
  
• Geographic Information Systems
• Immunization Registries
• See PH/HA Resource List on PHI
• http//www.phha.mlanet.org/phi.html

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Summary Slide

• Summary Text

26
Case Study Exercise

• Form small groups
• Receive case study topic
• 15 minutes to prepare search strategy and
  teaching points
  
• 5-7 minutes to present strategy
• Discussion of strategy and presentation