How to use NHS Evidence Healthcare Databases Advanced Search to find articles What is it? Access to Medline, Embase, Cinahl, PsycInfo, Amed, BNI, Health Business Elite and HMIC. Use databases when you are looking for articles on a subject. If you already have a list of references, it is better to use My Journals, which is available from the Journals link on the same page. Do I need a password? Yes, you need an NHS Athens username and password. If you do not have one, follow the self-registration link from http://www.athens.nhs.uk/. How can I access healthcare databases? • • • Go to http://www.library.nhs.uk/ and click on Healthcare databases advanced search Log in with your Athens username and password Click on the title of the database you want to search How do I search effectively? • Enter your first keyword/phrase into the search box. • • • Put a tick in the thesaurus mapping box and click Select the most appropriate subject heading and tick the Explode box If you are not sure which subject heading to use, click scope for a definition • • Click Continue to search for your other keywords/phrases in the same way How do I combine search terms? • Tick the boxes in the select column to choose the searches you wish to combine • Click How do I apply limits to my search results? • If you have too many results or need to focus your search, use the limits, such as date of publication, age group, gender etc. • • Type the set number into the search box and click the tab Select the tab for the limit you want to use, for example, age groups or language Updated 16/04/13 • Choose from the options which appear below and click search. How do I view and save results? • • • • • • • • Click the number in the View results column Click on the title of the article to read the abstract (if available) or tick the Display abstracts box to see all abstracts on this page If the full text is available online, there will be links below the citation Click on the full text link and the article should open in a new window Print holdings in any of the Trust libraries are also listed under the citation Tick the box next to the title to select articles to save Choose the display format and output format at the bottom of the page. We recommend PDF, medium and tick to include search history You can either email or save the selected results How do I search for a keyword/phrase in title or abstract? • • • • Use this option if thesaurus mapping doesn’t find an appropriate subject heading for your keyword/phrase. Remember you will need to think of alternative words and spellings (e.g. paediatrics and pediatrics) in order to perform a comprehensive search. Enter your keyword/phrase into the search box. Type phrases within quotation marks, e.g. “multiple sclerosis” The default is to search within the title and abstract field. You can choose an alternative, e.g. search for an author, journal title etc. Click How do I search my search and create an alert? • • • Click to either Save all or Save selected lines Name your search and either Save or Save and create alert, if you would like to be emailed when new relevant articles are added to the database Your saved searches and alerts are available to run or edit every time you log in Further assistance Contact us: There are libraries for acute and community staff at Hexham, North Tyneside and Wansbeck hospitals. Email: library@nhct.nhs.uk North Tyneside phone: 0191 2932761 Wansbeck phone: 01670 529665 Hexham phone: 01434 655420 or 01434 655076 Updated 16/04/13