Classify your information need and select
appropriate resource(s) from the Shimberg
Library! Types
Information
Background
Foreground
Point of Care
Looking
for…
Structure
General knowledge
Definitions
Foundation
Characteristics
Fundamentals
Components
Statistics
Instruments
Research
Specific knowledge
Specific patient or population
PICO:
Patient (population),
Intervention, Comparison,
Outcomes
Evidence-based clinical
decision, focus, or support
Formatted to provide
instant results
Medical condition based
Sample
questions…
What is thrombolysis?
What drugs treat DVT?
Where is the National
Library of Medicine?
How does radiotherapy compare
with tamoxifen in women with
completely excised ductal
carcinoma in situ of the breast?
Should you administer
ACEI to your patient who
has experienced a
myocardial infarction?
Resource
Type…
Textbooks; reference books;
dictionaries; directories;
atlases; websites; images;
drug compendiums
Journal literature; systematic
reviews; abstracts; practice
guidelines
Point of care monographs
and reviews; reviews of
effect; pre-appraised
evidence summaries
Book section, chapter, page
Web site
Medical pictures
Drug monographs
Journal articles
RCT
Meta-analysis
Practice guideline
Review
Systematic Reviews
Monograph
Outline
Abstract
USF Catalog
MD Consult Books
Stat!Ref (Books)
Harrison’s Online
Ovid Textbooks
HAPI
Mental
Measurements
Ulrich’s Directory
Hardin Medical Directory
(medical pictures)
Google/Advanced
PubMed or Ovid Medline
Web of Science (Knowledge)
CINAHL (Nursing)
PsycInfo
USF Library E-Journals
USF Library Databases
PubMed Clinical Queries
Cochrane Database
ACP Journal Club
DARE
Bandolier
InfoPOEMS
UpToDate
DynaMed
Clinical Evidence
Results
format…
Resource
Database…
03/09
Selecting Resource
Databases for
Health Care Literature
Annotated list and
selection matrix
Shimberg
Health Sciences
Library
http://library.hsc.usf.edu
Need Help?
Call the Reference Desk 974-2288
Background Resources:
All resources available from the Shimberg library
homepage unless otherwise noted
USF Catalog
Online inventory of all USF libraries; books,
journals, media, databases. Online access to
individual items and full text may require passwords
MD Consult
50+ full text books, 50 journals, practice guidelines,
Drug compendium, patient handouts and more-HSC
ID/password
Stat!Ref
29+ online medical specialty textbooks and drug
reference texts-HSC ID/password
Harrison’s Online
Continuously updated, Harrison’s Textbook of
Internal Medicine-HSC ID/password
Ovid Textbooks
8 core textbooks online in Ovid-HSC ID and
password
HAPI (Health & Psychosocial Instruments):
Access to information on measurement instruments
in the health fields, psychosocial sciences, etc., in
Ovid-HSC ID and password
Mental Measurements:
Contains full text information and reviews of
English-language standardized tests and
instruments; found in USF Libraries Databases
Hardin Medical Directory
Medical pictures for presentations, etc. See All
eResources-no password
Google/Advanced
Good site for pictures and web searching. Access
from your favorite browser
Foreground Resources:
Medline (PubMed or Ovid)
Principal and largest database of worldwide medical
journal literature; Pubmed requires USF id#; OvidHSC ID/ password
PubMed Clinical Queries
Interface within PubMed filters Medline literature
search to retrieve clinical medical studies or
systematic reviews of literature-requires USF id#
Web of Science (in Web of Knowledge)
Major worldwide database of journal literature.
Requires USF id#
Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews
Evidence-based systematic reviews of clinical and
randomized controlled trials from published medical
literature-HSC ID and password
CINAHL (Ovid or Ebsco)
Principal database of the nursing and allied health
journal literature-Ovid HSC ID; Ebsco USF id#
DARE (Cochrane and Ovid)
University of York’s database of structured
abstracts of systematic reviews-HSC ID/password;
at U of York, no password
Bandolier (http://www.jr2.ox.ac.uk/bandolier/)
Evidence of effectiveness in bullet points of things
that worked and those that did not; from systematic
reviews, meta-analyses, randomised trials, and
observational studies. Free-from Evidence Based
Medicine Resources on the homepage-no
password
Point of Care Resources:
InfoPOEMS (PDA available)
Experts identify and summarize the most valid and
clinically applicable new evidence from research
findings-use HSC ID/password
PsycInfo (Ovid)
Principal database of psychological literature-HSC
ID/password
UpToDate (updated quarterly)
Answer clinical questions in daily practice, at point
of care, summarizing published evidence, making
recommendations for patient care. Available on
workstation in library only
USF Libraries E-Journals Database
Full text, journals available online, click on USF
libraries-(to find all available journals, search both
here and the catalog)
DynaMed (PDA available)
Medical information database; 1,800 clinical topic
summaries; for use at the point of care, providing
best available evidence and updated daily
USF Libraries Databases
Master list of journal literature databases. Click on
USF Libraries, Databases/Newspapers
Clinical Evidence
International source of best evidence for effective
health care; summarizing the known and not
known about more than 200 medical conditions
and over 2000 treatments.
ACP Journal Club (Ovid)
Articles reporting original studies and systematic
reviews regarding advances in Internal Medicine;
abstracts and commentary by clinical experts-HSC
ID/password