PHAR 385
Practice Skills Lab
Starting your Research
To effectively research health sciences topics, it is essential to use the appropriate resources. Reference books such as subject-specific encyclopedias, handbooks, dictionaries, and manuals are good starting points for finding background information. For example, if you wish to find reference books on drug compounding, they may be found in the Online Catalog by doing a keyword search for drug and compounding. If you specifically want online reference books, you may wish to search your topic in the Electronic Medical Library Stat!Ref that searches the contents of many medical reference books. In the library's new Online Reference Resources collection, there are many health & medical encyclopedias, as well as key pharmacy reference books, such as Burger's Medicinal Chemistry and Drug Discovery and Meyler's Side Effects of Drugs. Also, Ebrary is a collection of many online books that may prove to be helpful.
After gathering background information on your topic, you will want to focus your search in general and research databases to find articles on your topic. If you are doing research from off-campus, you will need to log-on to use databases and other online resources licensed by FSU. Simply use your MyFSU username and password to log-on to the library's online materials. Click here for information on off-campus database access.
Finding Articles using FLITE Databases
Stat!Ref
As stated above, Stat!Ref is an excellent starting point for researching medical topics. Enter your search term into the search box and you will obtain a rank-ordered list of results taken from various medical encyclopedias, dictionaries, handbooks, and other medical reference books. A very helpful feature of this database is the Drug Information filter to the left of the results that will let you search specifically within drug information resources. Drug information resources in this database include, but are not limited to: AHFS Drug Information (2006), Davis's Drug Guide for Nurses - 12th Ed. (2011), DrugPoints System, and The Handbook on Injectable Drugs - 16th Ed. (2011). This database can help you find information on specific diseases and drugs.
Click here for a Stat!Ref Database Guide.
PubMed
This is the largest biomedical database, with over 21 million citations, provided by the National Library of Medicine. Search for drug information by using the brand name, generic name, or substance name. Use the Limits link to limit your search. When you find an on-topic article, don't hesitate to use the Related Citations link, as it works very well.
To get the full text of the articles, you must click into the PubMed record, then click on the Find It link. For more information on getting the full text of articles, see the Obtaining the Full-Text of Articles section below.
Also check out other National Library of Medicine Databases that are freely available:- Clinical Queries can be used to find highly regarded meta-analyses and systematic reviews that clinical guidelines are often derived from.
- Consumer Health (Medline Plus): A great place to find information for patients.
- TOXNET: Find toxicology information.
- Clinical Alerts: Find out what alerts and advisories are available.
- Clinical Trials: Learn what clinical trials are available by searching on either the condition or the treatment.
Click here for PubMed Tutorials.
International Pharmaceutical Abstracts (IPA)
IPA provides article summaries taken from over 800 journals selected by the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists. Search the database using generic of brand names, or using substance names. Combine searches for different subjects by using the Search History tab and combining searches using and. Recall that this database indexes the International Journal of Pharmaceutical Compounding that is NOT indexed in the largest biomedical database, PubMed. There is no single place to search for all types of health-related information!
IDIS (Iowa Drug Information Service)
IDIS contains citations and full-text from 200 journals pertinent to pharmacy, with a focus on retrieving specific drug information and drug treatments for diseases. For each type of search selected there is a valuable description about the purpose of the search, providing an indicator of the type of search terms that should be used. Try using the Advanced Search to improve your search precision.
Click here for an IDIS tutorial
Drug Facts and Comparisons
Find up-to-date drug information using this database, including drug monographs with extensive information about indications, administration & dosage, warnings & precautions, adverse reactions, and more! Also, drug interaction information, patient information, drug identification tools, herbal interaction information, off-label uses, and other pertinent information can be found using this resource.
Click here for an excellent Drug Facts and Comparisons Quick Start Guide, from the producers of this resource.
Natural Medicines Comprehensive Database
The Natural Medicines Comprehensive Database is a valuable resource created by the Therapeutic Research Center to help pharmacists find reliable, evidence-based information on natural medicines. Searches appear to be very effective when typing in only the substance name, and then selecting the record that says Detailed Info. The detailed information includes uses for the substance, safety, effectiveness, etc.
Cochrane Library
The Cochrane Library is a valuable resource for evidence-based medicine. The reviews in this library are systematic reviews, meaning that each article contains pooled data from numerous independent studies on a particular topic. The pooled data has been synthesized and scrutinized to arrive at a statistically valid conclusion regarding the effectiveness of a treatment/procedure. This library is growing, so be sure to check back at a later time if you are not currently finding information on your topic. You can search using keywords, such as drug and disease names, or browse Cochrane Reviews by topic. Stay current by looking at the Updated reviews and new reviews.
Obtaining the Full-Text of Articles
In some databases you will see an option for a Text version of the document or a PDF version. In general, the PDF version is preferable as it is most often a scanned version of the original and will therefore contain the graphics. When e-mailing, printing, or saving a group of articles, be sure to select the full-text or PDF option if available.
Some databases contain little full-text, but allow you to link out to Ferris' holdings or the interlibrary loan request form. You will notice the Find it! links following individual citations that will indicate the availability of the article online, in the library, or the need to interlibrary loan the article. Click on the Go button and you will be taken to the online version, library holdings record, or interlibrary loan form to obtain the article you desire. See the example below:
Sample Link-Out
Evaluating your Articles
Before requesting articles from interlibrary loan, please review the abstract and make sure that the article is on-topic. Also, please insure that the article is in a language that you speak, as some databases, such as PubMed index many non-English articles that have abstracts written in English. After you have evaluated the topical coverage and language of the article, please do not hesitate to request it through interlibrary loan if it is not available on campus.
Current Awareness Resources:
National Guidelines Clearing House:
Stay familiar with evidence-based clinical practice guidelines. New and updated guidelines, as well as long-standing guidelines can be found on this collaborative website of medical associations/agencies and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
Physician's First Watch E-mail Alert:
Learn about pertinent clinical developments with daily e-mail alerts, produced by the publishers of the New England Journal of Medicine.
Reuters Health Report:
Another resource for keeping on top of health and medical topics. Select the box by Reuters Health Report to subscribe to this newsletter (other news alerting services are available through Reuters).
MedWatch:
Check this webpage for FDA safety updates and adverse event updates. You may select to sign up for updates via e-mail, RSS feed, text messages, etc..
Other Useful Library Links
Find Books: You may also want to look at the guide for Finding Online Books.
Any more questions? Contact: Alison (Ali) Konieczny / Email / Phone: 231-591-3696 / Office: FLITE 315
Don't forget, you are welcome to come to the Oval Information Desk and ask for help any time. You can also call us 231-591-3602 or chat with us.
Last update: October 24, 2011