Primary sources (databases including Medline and Cinahl) are available via the Knowledge Network unless otherwise stated.
Contents
Knowledge and Library Services
Pharmacy and medicines information
Allied health
CINAHL: nursing and allied health including occupational therapy, emergency services and social services in health care. Further information here. See also: Medline, PsycInfo.
OTSeeker: occupational therapy.
PEDro: physiotherapy.
SpeechBITE: speech therapy and speech pathology.
NeuroBITE: (previously PsycBITE) psychological problems and issues occurring as a consequence of acquired brain impairment (ABI).
ASSIA (Applied Social Sciences Index and Abstracts): covers health, social services, psychology, sociology, economics, politics, race relations and education. Further information here.
Google Scholar: provides access to scholarly references, primarily journal article abstracts, but also conference proceedings and papers, and theses. Use ‘conference’ as a keyword when searching for conferences.
Biomedical
Medline: Medline covers the international literature on biomedicine, including the allied health fields and the biological and physical sciences, humanities, and information science as they relate to medicine and health care. Produced by the National Library of Medicine. Information on overlap between Medline and Embase (see under 6.2.1.3 Medline and Embase)
Embase: a limit to Exclude MEDLINE Journals will restrict retrieval to records with Embase exclusive journals. (Caution – you may exclude articles in Medline journals which have not yet been uploaded to Medline – Embase is often quicker to upload articles from new issues – so use this limit with caution. It is not reliable enough for a systematic search). From the Ovid database info: “Embase is … especially strong in its coverage of drug and pharmaceutical research … Broad biomedical scope covering the following areas:
- Drug therapy and research, including pharmaceutics, pharmacology and toxicology
- Clinical and experimental (human) medicine
- Basic biological science relevant to human medicine
- Biotechnology and biomedical engineering, including medical devices
- Health policy and management, including pharmacoeconomics
- Public, occupational and environmental health, including pollution control
- Veterinary science, dentistry, and nursing”
Further information about Embase
Web of Science: Citation searching. Available via the National Library of Scotland (free registration)
Google Scholar: provides access to scholarly references, primarily journal article abstracts, but also conference proceedings and papers, and theses. Use ‘conference’ as a keyword when searching for conferences.
Books and e-books: a wide range of clinical textbooks are available in NHSGGC Libraries or national stock, and it is worth checking Primo to see if there is a text which would give the user an overview or analysis of the topic. Titles are available in print and an increasing number are available as e-books. Search on the Knowledge Network. It is worth searching within individual TKN suppliers, as their editions are sometimes more up to date than the links on the Knowledge Network.
Other geographical databases
LILACS: A Latin American and Caribbean health research database produced since 1982. It contains articles from approximately 670 journals. Much of the content is not available on Medline or Embase. Further information at the Virtual Health Library and at the BMJ.
African Index Medicus: this is a free bibliographic database produced under the auspices of WHO.
Clinical trials
PROSPERO: an international database of prospectively registered systematic reviews in health and social care. Managed by University of York Centre for Reviews and Dissemination (CRD) and funded by the UK National Institute for Health Research (NIHR).
BMC ISRCTN Registry: a primary clinical trial registry recognised by WHO and ICMJE that accepts all clinical research studies (whether proposed, ongoing or completed) providing content validation and curation and the unique identification number necessary for publication.
HSRProj (Health Services Research Projects in Progress) This database of current United States projects in health services research is searchable (along with other databases) on the National Library of Medicine (NLM) gateway.
Cancer Research UK: database aimed at helping patients & the public identify relevant ongoing and completed clinical trials for cancer treatments.
AIDSMap: database of UK clinical trials of relevance to those with HIV/AIDS.
More information about clinical trials and how to find them:
About Clinical Trials – National Cancer Institute (US)
NIHR Clinical Trials Guide - National Institute for Health Research
Platforms allowing searches across multiple registers
BMC (Biomed Central) ISRCTN including FAQs
WHO International Clinical Trials Search Platform. More information here.
Education
ERIC (Educational Resources Information): covers the education literature including school health, mental health and patient education. Includes journal articles, conference papers, reports and dissertations. Available via Ovid. Further information about ERIC is available here.
Knowledge and library services
LISTA (Library, Information Science & Technology Abstracts) Available on the Knowledge Network. More info here.
See also:
Medline, Cinahl, Emerald
Management
HMIC (Health Management Information Consortium): contains records relating to health and social care management with a focus on UK material. It combines databases from the Department of Health’s Library & Information Services and the King's Fund Information & Library Service. Available via Ovid. Further information
Health Management Library (Scottish Health Service Centre): lends publications to health libraries in Scotland, and to members of NHS Scotland staff. Its collection contains government and official publications. Includes lists of resources under “Web resources” and “Topic rooms”. Catalogue.
EBSCO Health Business Elite: covers healthcare administration and other non-clinical aspects of health care institution management. Topics include hospital management, hospital administration, marketing, human resources and facilities management. Available via Ebsco. Further information here.
Emerald: subject areas include management in a variety of settings including the public sector, education and engineering. Also includes strategy, change management, marketing, business ethics and human resources. Available via the Knowledge Network.
Barbour Index: estates and Facilities database, covering environment, health and safety. UK-based. Available via the Knowledge Network.
GoodPractice Toolkits: topics include leadership, organizational development, and projects and operations. Available via the Knowledge Network (Athens login required).
Health Systems Evidence (free to search but need to create a login)
PDQ database (PDQ (“Pretty Darn Quick”): facilitates rapid access to the best available evidence for decisions about health systems. It includes systematic reviews, overviews of reviews (including evidence-based policy briefs), primary studies included in systematic reviews and structured summaries of that evidence.
Google Scholar: provides access to scholarly references, primarily journal article abstracts, but also conference proceedings and papers, and theses. Use ‘conference’ as a keyword when searching for conferences.
Nursing and midwifery
CINAHL: nursing and allied health including occupational therapy, emergency services and social services in health care. Further information.
MIDIRS : Maternity and Infant Care: covers pregnancy, labor, birth, postnatal care, and neonatal care and the first year of an infant’s life. Further information
Medline: covers the international literature on biomedicine, including the allied health fields and the biological and physical sciences, humanities, and information science as they relate to medicine and health care. Produced by the National Library of Medicine.
Google Scholar: provides access to scholarly references, primarily journal article abstracts, but also conference proceedings and papers, and theses. Use ‘conference’ as a keyword when searching for conferences.
See also: Cochrane Library
Pharmacy and medicines information
BNF & BNF for Children: published by BMJ Publishing Group, Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain, and RCPCH Publications. Publisher info:
Apps also available.
Micromedex: provides access to medicines information resources including drug interaction resources and monographs on the indications (including off-label), contra-indications and side-effects of a wide range of medicines. Available via the Knowledge Network.
Stockley’s Drug Interactions: a reference book on drug interactions, covering therapeutic drugs, proprietary medicines, herbal medicines, foodstuffs, drinks, pesticides, and drugs of abuse. Published by the Pharmaceutical Press. Available via the Knowledge Network.
Travax: clinical travel health information for UK healthcare practitioners. Travax is maintained and updated by Health Protection Scotland (HPS). It is provided as an NHS resource for health care professionals who advise patients about avoiding illness and staying healthy when travelling abroad. Free registration is required for access, limited to NHS staff. Available here.
See also:
- Embase: Includes detailed indexing of drug terms.
- Cochrane Library: Systematic review and RCTs of treatment interventions.
Psychiatry and psychology
PsycInfo: produced by the American Psychological Association and includes journal articles, books and book chapters, and dissertations. It covers behavioural science and mental health. Available via the Knowledge Network. Further information here.
CINAHL: nursing and allied health including occupational therapy, emergency services and social services in health care. Further information here.
Medline: covers the international literature on biomedicine, including the allied health fields and the biological and physical sciences, humanities, and information science as they relate to medicine and health care. Produced by the National Library of Medicine.
ASSIA (Applied Social Sciences Index and Abstracts): covers health, social services, psychology, sociology, economics, politics, race relations and education. Further information here.
Public Health
Knowledge Network Community of Practice for Public Health
NHS Health Scotland Health Topics: Resources can be browsed by topic, including alcohol, child healthy weight, drugs, food and health, mental health improvement, physical activity and tobacco.
Social care
Databases & internet searching:
Try Medline, HMIC, Cinahl.
Social Services Knowledge Scotland (SSKS) search. SSKS is part of the Knowledge Network.
Care Inspectorate Hub: includes Care Inspectorate programmes and publications, national policy and other resources.
Social Care Online - Social Care Institute for Excellence (SCIE): UK-based database of information on social work and social care. Includes legislation, government documents, practice and guidance, systematic reviews, research briefings and journal articles, events, training materials, video clips and blogs.
ASSIA (Applied Social Sciences Index and Abstracts): covers health, social services, psychology, sociology, economics, politics, race relations and education. Available via the Knowledge Network. Further information here.
Social Services Abstracts: covers social work, human services, and related areas, including social welfare, social policy and community development. Available via the Knowledge Network. Further information here.
British Library Social Welfare Portal: collection of research reports, summaries and government papers. Alerts can be set up for topic areas.
Web of Science: citation searching. Available via the National Library of Scotland (free registration).
LISTA (Library, Information Science and Technology Abstracts): Via Ebsco.
Joseph Rowntree Foundation: supports work in the areas of poverty, place (support for communities) and the ageing society, among other topics. Info here. Browse the publications by category, or do a keyword search.
King’s Fund: “The King's Fund is an independent charity working to improve health and health care in England.” You can search and browse publications, topics, projects and more.
Nuffield Trust: independent health think tank aiming to improve the quality of health care in the UK by providing evidence-based research and policy analysis and informing and generating debate.
See also: Google or other internet search engines.
Social care organisations
Scottish Social Services Council (SSSC)
Coalition of Care and Support Providers in Scotland (CCPS)
Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC)
Northern Ireland Social Care Council
British Association of Social Workers
UK Department of Health and Social Care
Research organisations
Institute for Research and Innovation in Social Services (IRISS) [Scotland]
NIHR School for Social Care Research
Kings College London Social Care Workforce Research Unit
Wales Institute of Social and Economic Research, Data & Methods (WISERD)
Social Policy and Practice [database]
Improvement and inspection
Improvement Hub [Scotland]
Social Care Institute for Excellence
Regulation and Quality Improvement Authority
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