Searching on OvidSP Medline and Embase Information Skills 2 (Year 1): Oct 2013 Catriona, Kirsty and Stuart

Image from: I regularly use... if I am writing.. or looking for research evidence to support my learning. When searching for a paper to critically appraise... For every essay my first step is a multi-term advanced search on Embase. Each week there is an evidence based aspect to our PBL studies, using these... enables me to find relevant documents.. I can incorporate into my learning.. I use... all the time to find articles, especially for SSC and CATs! Quotes from HYMS Library2013 student 3 Questions survey

Embase Biomedical Pharmaceutical European Elsevier 22+million records 7,500 active peer-reviewed journals

Embase Biomedical Pharmaceutical European Elsevier 22+million records 7,500 journals Medline Biomedical and health The ‘daddy’ U.S National Library of Medicine 18+ million records 5,500 journals Other formats: PubMed, WoK..

Why these and not Google?

…won’t find everything!

Only the tip of the iceberg Results influenced by previous searches. Hint: sign out when you search.. Google scholar: easy and citation function BUT: not so good for complex searches; plus nobody checking has rounded coverage of a subject area… Image from

Where to start? Prepare before you search

Does the use of silver based wound dressing help prevent reinfection for type 2 diabetes related lower extremity based wounds? Image from 14/10/12http://woodsrecruiting.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/College-Recruiting-Jigsaw-Puzzle.png Define your topic

Does the use of silver based wound dressing help prevent reinfection for type 2 diabetes related lower extremity based wounds? Image from 14/10/12http://woodsrecruiting.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/College-Recruiting-Jigsaw-Puzzle.png Break it down into parts

Does the use of silver based wound dressing help prevent reinfection for type 2 diabetes related lower extremity based wounds? Reinfection possible alternatives: Re-infection Infection Contamination Inflammation Image from 14/10/12http://woodsrecruiting.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/College-Recruiting-Jigsaw-Puzzle.png Consider phrasing and terms

Does the use of silver based wound dressing help prevent reinfection for type 2 diabetes related lower extremity based wounds? Reinfection possible alternatives: Re-infect* OR Infect* Contaminat* Inflammat* Image from 14/10/12http://woodsrecruiting.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/College-Recruiting-Jigsaw-Puzzle.png Consider truncation, Boolean etc

What next? (We really do all love Google..)

Freetext for that feel.. Illustration : Multiple fields Variable spellings, Colloquialisms etc e.g. Economy Class Syndrome for DVT

But be disciplined... (Belt and braces)

…and combine with Subject Heading searching Image from

Subject Heading searching Image from: MeSH Predefined Structured THESAURUS hierarchies: ‘ trees’ Assigned headers by a human EXPLODE and Focus options Use with freetext for ALL PARTS of your search

What does this ‘thesaurus tree’ look like? Image from:

x

Use both Freetext and Subject Headings Image from

e.g. Do the same for all your concepts......

e.g.

Image from How do I limit?

Image from Limit at the end of a complete search e.g. by: Language (e.g. English only) Publication type e.g. RCT Date (e.g onwards – but use with caution) By field e.g. author, journal

Image from When do I stop?

Image from Depends... on your information need and time available but remember:

Image from Don’t over limit a search The good search brings back a selection of relevant articles on a topic not ONE article Scanning through results is part of the process It takes approx 15 seconds to scan a Medline abstract

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