1. East Dorset NHS Library Service
No. 2: Getting started with selecting a healthcare database
This guide will provide an overview of healthcare databases, tools to help you locate
references to published literature to support your clinical practice – they are sometimes
referred to as bibliographic databases. It will include information on access, date and
subject coverage. It is possible to search for authors, titles, journal titles and subjects
and most databases will provide an abstract (summary) with links to full text copies
where they exist. For more information on how to search effectively please see other
guides in the series.
NHS ATHENS
You need to have a username and password for NHS ATHENS to access the
databases. Please self-register online at www.swice.nhs.uk. See guide No.1 Getting
started with NHS ATHENS for more details. Once registered you can access the
databases from any internet connection.
Finding the databases:
1. Open the SWICE web site www.swice.nhs.uk a gateway to a range of information
to support clinical effectiveness
2. From the left-hand column select Health Information Resources (formerly NLH)
3. Select Login now and enter your NHS ATHENS username and password
4. From the green box on the left select Healthcare Databases Advanced Search
HEALTHCARE DATABASES
Allied and Complementary Medicine (AMED) 1985 -
Covers occupational therapy, physiotherapy, rehabilitation, plus alternative medicine:
acupuncture, chiropractic, homeopathy, yoga, hypnosis, etc. Indexes over 400 English
and European journals. Updated quarterly.
British Nursing Index (BNI) 1994 -
This UK focused database covers A&E, mental health, primary care, neonatal, cancer,
theatres, orthopaedic nursing, etc. Details of articles from over 250 key English
language nursing and midwifery journals. Updated monthly.
Cumulative Index of Nursing & Allied Health (CINAHL) 1982 -
A US database covering all aspects of nursing and allied health. Subjects covered
include optometry, radiologic technology, speech and language pathology, nutrition.
Contains materials from over 1,200 journals, theses and pamphlets.
EMBASE 1974 -
With particular emphasis on European sources, this database covers the whole field of
medicine. Drugs, pharmacology and substance abuse are particularly well covered
using 5,000 journals about 1,500 not used in Medline.
Health Business Elite 1970 -
Aspects of health care administration and non-clinical aspects of health care
management are covered.
HMIC 1979 –
Comprises DH Data and Kings Fund databases. NHS health services management,
policy and standards and social care, public health; toxicity studies onLast up-dated 21/04/2010
specific
chemicals, health inequalities, partnership working and workforce development.

2. HEALTHCARE DATABASES continued
MEDLINE 1950 -
This is a large US database of medical information and is regarded as the major
biomedicine database. Other subjects covered include dentistry, veterinary medicine,
medical psychology, genetics and advanced nursing practice. The database covers over
5,000 journals from 70 countries. Updated weekly.
PsycINFO 1806 -
Subjects covered relate to clinical, social and biological areas of psychology. These
include addiction, pharmacology, anthropology and law. Published by the American
Psychological Association, material is included from 2,000 international periodicals
SOME OTHER HEALTH DATABASES AVAILABLE ON THE INTERNET
COCHRANE LIBRARY (Access via www.swice.nhs.uk)
Within the Cochrane Library site you can search 6 databases simultaneously.
Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews: Full text evidence based systematic
reviews prepared by the Cochrane Collaboration. Reliable, high quality, independent
reviews recognised as the gold standard in evidence-based healthcare.
Database of Abstracts of Reviews of Effects(DARE): Critical appraisals of other
systematic reviews published elsewhere.
Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials: A register of controlled clinical trials
incorporating records from bibliographic databases and unpublished reports.
Cochrane Methodology Register: Methods studies. Full text systematic reviews of
specific well designed methodological studies.
Health Technology Assessment database (HTA): Technological assessments
covering prevention, treatment, vaccines, pharmaceuticals, health systems, devices
medical & surgical procedures.
NHS Economic Evaluation Database: Abstracts of articles describing economic
evaluations of health care interventions.
UKDUETs - http://www.library.nhs.uk/duets/
Database of Uncertainties about the Effects of Treatments which identifies uncertainties
about the effects of treatment which cannot currently be answered by referring to reliable
up-to-date systematic reviews of existing research evidence.
PEDro - www.pedro.org.au/
The Physiotherapy Evidence Database providing access to independently quality
assessed abstracts of randomised controlled trials, systematic reviews and
evidence-based clinical practice guidelines in physiotherapy.
PubMED - www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/
Provided by the US National Library of Medicine this free resource enables you to
search MEDLINE citations and other biomedical articles.
TRIP - www.tripdatabase.com/
A database that aims to identify all evidence based healthcare resources across the web
providing links to full-text where available.
Further Help: Please contact the Library Staff for more information.
Training can be organised to suit individual circumstances. Last up-dated 21/04/2010
Royal Bournemouth: Library@rbch.nhs.uk 01202 704270
Poole: PGMC.library@poole.nhs.uk 01202 442101