Medical Databases

Practical WorkshopFebruary 2015

Heather RobbAcademic Liaison Librarian

heather.robb@dur.ac.uk

Learning outcomes

• This workshop will help you to:– plan a search strategy i.e. select key terms

and assign Boolean operators– login to Ovid Online and select an

appropriate database– search by subject heading and keyword – combine searches– find full-text articles both online and in

print– get good marks for assignments!

Identifying search terms

• What are the advantages and disadvantages of screening in pregnancy for Down’s syndrome?

• P• I•C•O

Identifying search terms

• What are the advantages and disadvantages of screening in pregnancy for Down’s syndrome?

• Patient/problem – risk of Down’s• Intervention - screening•Comparison - no screening/ diff types•Outcome – choices?

Identifying search terms

• What are the advantages and disadvantages of screening in pregnancy for Down’s syndrome?

• Patient/problem – risk of Down’s• Intervention - screening•Comparison - no screening/ diff types•Outcome – choices?

Synonyms and spellings• think about other terms which mean the

same i.e. synonyms, or related terms• remember alternative spellings e.g. US vs

BritishAND

OROR

pregnancy screening Down’s syndrome

pregnant tests trisomy 21

AND

Subject Headings

• aka MeSH in Medline• feature of Medline & EMBASE• terms automatically mapped to preferred

subject headings using Ovid• helps with synonyms and alternative

spellings e.g. oestrogen maps to estrogen, cancer maps to neoplasms

Example

• screening in pregnancy for Down’s syndrome?

1. Subject Heading: Pregnancy

2. Subject Heading: Mass screening

3. Subject Heading: Down Syndrome

4. Combine 1 and 2 and 3

Search step by step: 1 concept per line!

Subheadings

• aspects of a Subject Heading

• e.g. diagnosis, therapy, drug therapy, psychology, complications

Down syndrome

diagnosis

Limiters

• language• age groups • human• publication type• “clinical queries” filters e.g. qualitative

• and more

DEMO

• Finding articles on three parent IVF• IVF maps to Fertilization In Vitro• Show heading in tree and explode• Include all subheadings• Kw: three parent* OR three person• Combine 2 concepts with AND• 6 in Medline – re-run in EMBASE• ConneXions – Newcastle – Ovid full-text links

Connexions

• Durham’s links to full-text• Also has link to Newcastle University -

Find It will need Newcastle campus ID & password

• Don’t take “No access” as final answer• Open Durham Library Catalogue to check

journal title

Hands-on• open Library home page www://dur.ac.uk/library

• follow instructions in the handout

Support page with presentation & handout atSubject information | Medicine |

Information skills training | Year 1 Databases

Remember…

• We don’t have subscriptions to all the journals covered by these databases

• You have access to Newcastle’s

e-resources via LSE ID & password• Use our Document Delivery Service to get

key articles which are not in Durham or Newcastle - £3.50 per request

Citing references

• Cite Them Right Online (2013)http://library.dur.ac.uk/record=b2643050~S1wide range of examples in Harvard and Vancouver referencing styles

• Citing Medicine, 2nd ed (2007)https://library.dur.ac.uk/record=b2663437~S1Comprehensive guide to Vancouver style from the U.S. National Library of Medicine