3. Accessing PubMed
• On your internet browser go to the
following location:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/
• Or conduct a Google search for
“PubMed”
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4. Search Question
• To illustrate how searching can be
conducted through several search
features the following question will
be searched:
• “What are the most effective drug
therapies for adolescents with
depressive disorder?”
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5. Basic Searching
• Basic searching is conducted from
the homepage
• Several terms can be strong
together using Boolean Logic
1. And- used when you want search results
that contain results from all terms used
2. Or- used when you want search results
to contain results for any terms used
3. Not- used when you want search results
limited
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6. Basic Searching
The search terms “drug therapies”, “depressive
disorder” and “adolescents” was entered into the
search box. The Boolean term “and” was used so
that the results produced would contain all of the
search terms we wanted.
Note that the drop down menu for search should
remain on PubMed.
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7. Basic Search
Pros and Cons of using the Basic
Search
Pros-
• Produces articles from a variety of sources and topics.
• Great for browsing
Cons-
• Produces an unmanageable amount of records
• Results are not topic specific
• Results have the key terms in all locations including title,
abstract, journal name, and author name
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8. Advanced Searching
• The advanced searching method
allows you to search for your terms
in specific fields (example, the title,
author, journal fields.
• The advanced searching method
allows you to place “limits”. That is
the advanced search allows you to
retrieve the most relevant records
by restricting the records retrieved.
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9. Advanced Search
Pros and Cons of using the Advanced Search
Pros-
• Produces articles from a variety of sources and topics.
• Great for browsing
• Can use limiters to increase precision of results
Cons-
• Produces an unmanageable amount of records
• Results are not topic specific
• Results have the key terms in all locations including title,
abstract, journal name, and author name
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10. MeSH Database
• MeSH=Medical Subject Heading
Terms
• The MeSH database contains terms
used by the National Library of
Medicine (or NLM) for indexing
purposes
• These terms help to locate
information by
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11. MeSH Database
Pros and Cons
Pros-
• Produces the most specific and relevant results
• Retrieves a manageable amount of records
Cons-
• Requires complex search strategy
• Results may be too specific
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13. Example 1
• What are the key terms of the
following query?
As the hospital pharmacist, you received a question from the
chief nurse of the oncology ward regarding a female
patient at risk for breast cancer, and she has received a
prescription for tamoxifen as a preventative measure. The
female patient has heard that taking tamoxifen could
cause a stroke. The nurse seems to remember that one
of the adverse reactions to tamoxifen is a stroke. The
nurse asks if you have any literature especially a review
article, that she could read that addresses this issue.
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14. Example 2
• What are the key terms of this
query?
A nurse explains to you that there has been
an increase in accidental falls by elderly
patients. She wants to know if there are
any guidelines she can follow to increase
safety for her patients.
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