Introduction to accessing and using the NHS healthcare databases. Presentation used during Leeds Libraries for Health training sessions. Created by: Dominic Gilroy (2015)

1. Introduction to
Healthcare Databases
Dominic Gilroy
Library & Knowledge Service Manager
Leeds & York Partnerships NHS FT

2. Housekeeping
• Fire Procedures
• Toilets
• Questions

3. 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

4. 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

5. 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

6. Planning the Search

7. Planning the Search
Is 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

8. 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

9. Example Search
Are 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

10. Free Text Searching – Tips & Tricks
Truncation & using the wildcard *
Psychotherap*
finds “psychotherapeutic, psychotherapy, psychotherapies,
etc.”
Obes*
finds “obese, obesity”

11. 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….”

12. Activity
Search for our three terms using * and “ “
• Obese
• Psychotherapy
• Weight Loss

13. Boolean Operators

14. Boolean Operators

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

18. Limitations of free-text search
Psychotherap*
finds “psychotherapeutic, psychotherapy, psychotherapies, etc.”
But not:
• Art therapy
• Behaviour Therapy
• Music therapy
• Dance Therapy
• Bibliotherapy
• Reality therapy
and other types of psychotherapy

19. Thesaurus Searching

20. Mapping to Thesaurus Terms

21. Mapping to Thesaurus Terms

22. Activity
Search for our three terms using thesaurus and mapping
• Obese
• Psychotherapy
• Weight Loss
TREE, EXPLODE, MAJOR

23. Activity
Combine
1) Thesaurus and Free-Text search pairs with OR
2) Resulting themes with AND

24. Limits

25. Full Text Results
This is a print journal holding
We have included these for local
Leeds NHS Libraries in case e-
access is not available

26. Managing Results

27. Saving Searches & Create Alerts

28. Contact Details
Dominic Gilroy
Library & Knowledge Service Manager
Leeds & York Partnerships NHS FT
dominic.gilroy1@nhs.net
0113 85 55658
Leeds Libraries for Health
www.leedslibraries.nhs.uk