PHPR 303

Ferris State University Library for Information, Technology and Education (FLITE).

PHPR 303 - Bates & McMullen
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	PHPR 303 - Integrated 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. 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. Click here for information on off-campus database access.

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 - 10th Ed. (2007), Mosby's Drug Consult™ - 16th Ed. (2006), and USP DI Drug Info. for the Health Care Pro. - 26th Ed. (2006). 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 16 million citations. Search for drug information by using the brand name, generic name, or substance name. Select the Mesh Database to perform more subject-specific searches and send terms to the PubMed search box. If performing a keyword search, you can limit your search by using the limits tab, related articles link, or selecting the Review tab to see only review articles. Consider using the Clinical Queries Find Systematic Reviews function to pull-up highly regarded meta-analyses, guidelines, etc. Other highly useful resources for pharmacists linked from PubMed include Single Citation Matcher, Consumer Health, TOXNET,Clinical Alerts , and Clinical Trials.

Click here for a PubMed Database Guide.
Click here for an excellent Medical Subject Headings Guide that includes information on searching for drug and chemical information.

International Pharmaceutical Abstracts (IPA)
IPA provides article summaries taken from over 750 journals selected by the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists. Browse the Index for drug names (generic or brand names), or for 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!

Click here for an IPA Database Guide.

IDIS (Iowa Drug Information Service)
This database requires you to log-on individually. Please call 231-591-3602 for user name and password. IDIS contains citations and full-text from over 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 Database Guide.

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 meta-analyses, meaning that each review 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.

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.

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.