Introduction to Healthcare Databases

Dominic GilroyLibrary & Knowledge Service Manager

Leeds & York Partnerships NHS FT

Housekeeping

• Fire Procedures• Toilets• Questions

By the end of the session participants should be able to:

• Access the healthcare databases via NHS OpenAthens• Differentiate between the various healthcare databases and

be able to select the most appropriate • Understand how to plan a search using PICO• Understand the different between a free-text/word/phrase

search and a subject/thesaurus search• Perform a subject search in a healthcare database using the

thesaurus• View a Scope Note relating to a chosen subject heading• Use explode, major, and subheadings

By the end of the session participants should be able to:

• Combine search using Boolean operators• Use basic limits eg: Human, Male, Female, English Language• View abstracts• Access full-text papers• Print/email/save the selected records• Search for single citations using author, title or journal

reference• Save and retrieve a search strategy• Create an alert

About the Healthcare Databases

• 8 provided nationally to NHS England

• Bibliographic databases

• Often abstracts but no full-text papers

• Links to full-text provided elsewhere

• Typical record – page 3 of handbook

Planning the Search

Planning the SearchIs epidural analgesia more effective than hypnosis in reducing phantom limb pain in people with lower limb amputation?

P – Patient / Population / Problem Amputation

I - Intervention / exposure Epidural Analgesia

C - Comparison Hypnosis

O - Outcome Phantom Limb Pain

About the databases?• AMED – Allied and Complementary Medicine

• BNI – British Nursing Index

• CINAHL – Cumulative Index of Nursing and Allied Health

• EMBASE - European – Strengths in drugs and pharmacology

• Health Business Elite

• HMIC – Health Management Information Consortium

• Medline - International – perhaps best well known

• PsycINFO - Psychology and Psychiatry

Example SearchAre psychotherapeutic interventions effective in achieving weight loss in obese patients?

P – Patient / Population / Problem Obese (Patients)

I - Intervention / exposure Psychotherapy

C - Comparison -

O - Outcome Weight Loss

Free Text Searching – Tips & Tricks

Truncation & using the wildcard *

Psychotherap*

finds “psychotherapeutic, psychotherapy, psychotherapies, etc.”

Obes*

finds “obese, obesity”

Free Text Searching – Tips & Tricks

Quotation Marks “ ” find the exact phrase

“weight loss” finds just the phrase “weight loss”

weight loss (no quotes) would also find things like

“the weight of the argument suggests that no loss of accuracy would result from….”

Activity

Search for our three terms using * and “ “

• Obese

• Psychotherapy

• Weight Loss

Boolean Operators

Boolean Operators

Activity

Combine the free-text search terms together using “AND”

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Limitations of free-text searchPsychotherap*

finds “psychotherapeutic, psychotherapy, psychotherapies, etc.”

But not:

• Art therapy• Behaviour Therapy• Music therapy• Dance Therapy• Bibliotherapy• Reality therapy

and other types of psychotherapy

Thesaurus Searching

Mapping to Thesaurus Terms

Mapping to Thesaurus Terms

Activity

Search for our three terms using thesaurus and mapping

• Obese

• Psychotherapy

• Weight Loss

TREE, EXPLODE, MAJOR

Activity

Combine

1) Thesaurus and Free-Text search pairs with OR

2) Resulting themes with AND

Limits

Full Text Results

This is a print journal holdingWe have included these for local Leeds NHS Libraries in case e-access is not available

Managing Results

Saving Searches & Create Alerts

Contact Details

Dominic GilroyLibrary & Knowledge Service ManagerLeeds & York Partnerships NHS FTdominic.gilroy1@nhs.net0113 85 55658

Leeds Libraries for Healthwww.leedslibraries.nhs.uk