Friday, May 29, 2009

PubMed Quick Tip #3: Clinical Queries

Click on the Clinical Queries link on the left side of the screen when you are in PubMed in order to access search filters for Evidence Based Medicine. If you want to know the published evidence for a particular therapy, or diagnostic method, these filters will help narrow down the search.



Related Posts:
PubMed Quick Tip #1: Free Full Text
PubMed Quick Tip #2: Imagine the Perfect Search

Friday, May 22, 2009

PubMed Quick Tip #2: Imagine the Perfect Article


One of my favorite limits is the "title" tag. If you imagine what title a great article would have, those keywords can help you hone in on relevant hits. This is particularly helpful when thousands of hits come up in an unlimited search. Some useful terms include "current concepts," "update," "practical"(or in combination with "approach," "strategies," or "management").

Click the limits tab on the PubMed homepage.

Scroll to the bottom of the limits page and under "Tag Terms" choose "title."

Type your search terms into the search box at the top of the page.

All the articles that come up will have those words in the title.


Related Posts:

PubMed Quick Tip #1: Free Full Text

PubMed Quick Tip #3: Clinical Queries for Evidence Based Medicine

Friday, May 15, 2009

PubMed Quick Tip #1: Free Full Text

Under the limits tab, is a checkbox for "Links to Free Full Text." If you have this checked, all topics you search will provide free articles. Or type in your topic AND free full text[sb] in the search box if you want to search directly from there.

PubMed Medline is like a menu--you look at the descriptions, decide what you want, but the actual food is in the kitchen. About 90% percent of the abstracts do not have the full article available online for free, but a small subset of articles are ready to print.
These come from(1) PubMed Central, the U.S. National Institutes of Health(NIH) repository of full text articles from studies that received NIH funding and 2) Publishers who decide to grant free access to particular articles(for whatever reason they choose).
This is a quick way to find an article, but remember that you are only looking at about 10% of the total articles in PubMed on your topic. Researchers are investigating what kind of effect this has on accuracy of results.
If you search all articles, on the results page, the free ones are indicated with green lettering, so you can pick them out.
Related Posts:
PubMed Quick Tip #2: Imagine the Perfect Search
PubMed Quick Tip #3: Clinical Queries for Evidence Based Medicine
Finding Free Articles in PubMed

Featured Library Book: Cecil Medicine



The Montgomery Hospital Auxiliary generously donated the new edition of Cecil Medicine to the Medical Library.

Cecil's is one of the essential texts of Internal Medicine--by well respected editors, it has been in publication over 75 years. Each chapter indicates which management recommendations are supported by Grade A clinical evidence.

Lots of useful charts, color photos, and color coded sections for easy browsing.

Find it in the Ready Reference section, by the animal crackers, classification/call number WB 100 C38888 2008.


Tuesday, May 5, 2009

A Practical Guide to Clinical Medicine


Dr. Charlie Goldberg, of the University of California San Diego School of Medicine, has put together A Practical Guide to Clinical Medicine. Although the original audience was third year medical students, this guide has relevant information for anyone who needs to do physical exams. Dr. Goldberg's goal is to provide practical information with clinical relevance, and includes review of systems with photos, tips on logistics, presenting, and clinical decision making.

Suturing Video from University of Wisconsin Dept. of Family Medicine

Friday, May 1, 2009

UpToDate Links to Swine Flu Information

Here are some links to UpToDate's sections on Swine Flu, which are available from any networked pc at Montgomery Hospital:
Epidemiology & Diagnosis
Treatment & Prevention
Patient Information