University of Connecticut | Resources for HEALTH SCIENCES
Student Health Services
Return to Resources for Health Sciences main page
Finding Medical Information 1-2-3
The library subscribes to three full text information resources that will help you get started in your information quest. Like all other information resources, the three listed here are not comprehensive. If you don't find what you need in one of the three resources, do not worry, read on! The information contained on the rest of this page will easily guide you to what you need to know.- MDConsult Medical information, patient ed, CME
- Stat!Ref Medical information from textbooks only
- Micromedex Drug information
Keep Searching
-
Finding Journal Articles
Finding drug information
Finding patient care handouts
Finding CME online (Coming soon)
Ordering materials that are not owned by the library
Getting table of contents or search updates via e-mail
Using the library from home
-
Finding journal articles
- They are usually NOT full text. They will tell you what articles are written on a topic, but they will not GIVE you the article.
- Some databases cover a broad array of medical journals, while others include journals in a specific area of interest (i.e. cancer or alternative medicine).
- No database is 100% complete. This means that no database covers ALL medical journals. If you search one database, you will not discover as many articles as if you search multiple databases. If you want to find all the articles written about a topic, you will have to search more than one database.
- MEDLINE Biomedical information.
- PubMed PubMed covers all of MEDLINE plus additional journals.
- CINAHL Nursing and allied health literature.
- PsycInfo Psychological information.
- HOMER Print journals.
- eJournal Locator Online journals.
- MDConsult Registration required.
- Micromedex
- MedlinePlus
- MedScape Registration required.
- eMedicine Registration required.
- Receive weekly updates on your favorite topic (i.e. bone density AND calcium).
- Receive the table of contents for your favorite journals.
Step 1. What to do when you know you need an article on a topic, but don't know where to begin.
The library subscribes to a number of databases to help you locate medical articles. If you type a topic into a database, the database will tell you what articles are written on that topic.
Some important facts about databases:
Step 2. Deciding what database to look in first.
There are many different databases that can help you find medical articles. Some are very broad and cover a broad array of medical journals. Others focus on a subset of medicine, such as cancer or alternative medicine. While there is often overlap between databases (two or more databases may cover the same popular medical journal), each database covers a set of journals the other databases don't. So, by searching more than one database, you will find out about more articles. The most popular medical databases are:
For a more complete listing of medical databases, see Library Databases and Key Resources for Health Sciences
Step 3. Locating the actual article once you know it exists.
The library owns many journals in print in the library, but it owns many others online only. To determine whether the library has a subscription to the print journal, search HOMER (the library catalog). To determine whether the library owns the journal online, search the eJournal Locator.
when you are searching a database, click on it! The UConn FullText? button gives you quick links for HOMER and the eJournal Locator.
Micromedex is the primary drug information database. Micromedex contains full text information about drugs and drug interactions. Because Micromedex contains so much information, you might like to follow a short tutorial before getting started.
Micromedex is the most comprehensive drug database, but it is not the only database for drug information. A more complete list of Drug and Toxicology Databases is available on the library's website.
Finding patient care handouts
Patient care handouts are available from a variety of sources. Some good resources for patient care handouts include:
If you choose to search for patient information using a general search engine (i.e. Google,
Vivisimo, or Yahoo), remember that there is
a significant amount of erroneous and even harmful medical information on the Internet. Evaluate any
unknown Internet site using criteria.
Ordering materials that are not owned by the library
You may order articles and books that are not owned by the library through Document Delivery/Interlibrary Loan (DD/ILL).
Before you place an order with DD/ILL, make sure that you search both HOMER (the library catalog)
and the eJournal Locator (online journals). The library will not obtain items through DD/ILL that it owns either in print
or online. The Interlibrary Loan service is available online at no cost to faculty,
staff, and students of the University of Connecticut. To sign up for an account and/or place a request, visit the
DD/ILL website.
Getting table of contents or search updates via e-mail
You can configure your favorite database to automatically run your favorite search each week and e-mail you the results.
It is possible to set up a search to:
Each of the most popular medical databases (MEDLINE, PubMed, CINAHL, Micromedex, and PsycInfo), as well as many others,
have this facility built in. For instructions on setting up an automated e-mail alert, see
Current Awareness and Alerting Services
Using the library from home
HOMER (the library catalog), the online databases and the electronic journal collection can all be accessed from off
campus using the Proxy Server. After the proxy server is configured (follow proxy instructions),
access will be permitted
by entering your NetID. For help configuring the proxy server,
call the UITS Help Desk at (860)486-HELP.
Return to Resources for Health Sciences main page
If you have questions or comments, please contact:
Jill Livingston, Liaison Librarian to the University of Connecticut's
School of Allied Health
and School of Nursing.