Bibliographic Instruction Presentation (LIS 5916)

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Bibliographic Instruction Presentation (LIS 5916)

• U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)
• By George Nichols (June 2005)

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FDA (U.S. Food and Drug Administration)

• Website http//www.fda.gov
• A large governmental organization, the FDA is an
  agency of the Department of Health and Human
  Services and is further subdivided into eight
  centers (CBER, CDRH, etc).
• Features resources on many topics, including food
  safety, medical product safety, regulation of
  radiological products (microwave ovens, lasers,
  etc), and veterinary health. This site is
  accessible to a broad audience that includes
  consumers and health professionals.
• Mission Statement (excerpt) ...protecting the
  public health by assuring the safety, efficacy,
  and security of human and veterinary drugs,
  biological products, medical devices, our
  nations food supply, cosmetics, and products
  that emit radiation. The FDA is also responsible
  for advancing the public health by helping to
  speed innovations that make medicines and foods
  more effective, safer, and more affordable and
  helping the public get the accurate,
  science-based information they need to use
  medicines and foods to improve their health.

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Information is mainly organized by

• Product
• News
• Technical Docs
• Hot Topics
• Activities
• Audience

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Users may also browse using site map, or A-Z index
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Basic Search

• Lets go to the homepage to do a basic keyword
  search.

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Basic Search Results

• Does this interface look familiar? FDA uses
  Google search technology.
• Scroll down and hyperlink on More Search
  Options.....

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Advanced Search

• Advanced options are similar to that of Googles
  advanced search.
• May limit results to any of the sites 14 data
  categories (Medwatch, dockets, etc.).
• Next, scroll down the advanced search page to
  hyperlink on Database Search...

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FDA Databases

• You may select from any of 36 databases, such as
  Adverse Event Reporting System, Medical Device
  Approvals, and Warning Letters.

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Search Tips

• The search tool has an easy learning curve. It
  uses Google search technology, so it shares the
  same approach regarding Boolean operators, lack
  of support for stemming or wildcards, intuitive
  text-entry fields, as well as drop down boxes and
  checkboxes for limiting fields.
• However, access to the advanced search page is
  clumsy. To access, you may either
• 1) Scroll to bottom of homepage and click on the
  tiny footer link entitled "Search FDA site.
• OR
• 2) do any search in the basic search box, which
  takes you to a "more options" link that, in turn,
  takes you to the advanced search page.
• Results are generally of high quality, though you
  may need to use advanced options to avoid a flood
  of results for common topics. Also, some medical
  info is outdated. For example, a search for
  hypertension yielded a consumer-education
  document from 1990 (fortunately, the FDA provided
  a disclaimer warning the document may be
  outdated).

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Conclusion

• I found FDA.gov to be an invaluable resource,
  particularly for topics such as food safety,
  medical product warnings or approvals,
  radiological health, and veterinary medicine.
• Among its advantages
• Fairly easy search interface.
• High qualityand often exclusive or
  originalinformation.
• Credibility (a well-known federal institution).
• Lack of advertising or product selling.
• Comprehensive privacy policy.
• Designed to be accessible to people with
  disabilities.